[NASA] Showy Swirls Around Jeju Island

[SpaceMan 0]

Earth Observatory

1. This is the hidden content, please

   • Sign In
   • or
   • Sign Up
2. This is the hidden content, please

   • Sign In
   • or
   • Sign Up
3. Showy Swirls Around Jeju Island

• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• Topics
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
• More Content
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
• About
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up

 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

February 19, 2026

The tallest point in South Korea is not located in the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that run along the country’s

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. Rather, it is found atop a volcanic peak on Jeju Island, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the Korean Peninsula. In winter 2026, winds blew past the island in just the right way to send clouds spinning in its wake.

The 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 satellite captured this image of swirling clouds—and colorful, turbulent water—near Jeju Island on February 19, 2026. The island rises about 1,950 meters (6,400 feet) above the sea surface. At its center is

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, a shield volcano that last erupted in the 11th century and contains a notable

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

The trailing, staggered spirals, called

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, form when a fluid passes a tall, isolated, stationary object. If winds are too weak, clouds simply flow smoothly past, and if winds are too strong, vortices cannot maintain their shape. In the sweet spot, with winds between 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 (11 and 34 miles) per hour, clouds trace the airflow in patterns of counterrotating vortices. Though the underlying physics is the same, the appearance of the vortices can vary: sometimes they look wispy, as they do here, and other times they form more sharply defined, parallel rows, as they did at the same location the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

The seas, as well as the atmosphere, were turbulent near Jeju Island in mid-February. To the west, a large plume of sediment coming off the coast of China’s Jiangsu province turned waters murky. While brown, sediment-laden water is present in the shallow nearshore area year-round, expansive plumes like this one are

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. Research suggests that seasonal

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

of the water column may account for the large winter plumes.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 and 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

Downloads

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

February 19, 2026

JPEG (2.74 MB)

References & Resources

• Global Volcanism Program,
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed February 23, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2024, February 24)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed February 23, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2008, November 16)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed February 23, 2026.
• UNESCO World Heritage Convention (2018)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed February 23, 2026.
• Weather Underground (2019, December) 
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed February 23, 2026.

You may also be interested in:

Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

3 min read

Puffs of low-level clouds mingle with the volcanic terrain of Candlemas and Vindication islands in the remote South Atlantic.

Article

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

5 min read

The category 5 hurricane stirred up carbonate sediment near Jamaica in what scientists believe is the largest such event in…

Article

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

4 min read

An astronaut photographed the island’s striking mix of mountains, forests, and expanding urban areas.

Article

1

2

3

4
Next

Keep Exploring

Discover More from NASA Earth Science

Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Earth Observatory Image of the Day

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Explore Earth Science

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Earth Science Data

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up