Guadalupe Island, Mexico – A stunning satellite video has captured the mesmerizing movement of Von Karman vortices swirling off the coast of Guadalupe Island.

These spiraling cloud patterns formed as winds interacted with the island’s terrain, splitting the airflow and generating symmetrical, alternating vortex trails downwind.

Known as Von Karman vortex streets, the phenomenon creates long chains of spinning whirlwinds that move with the prevailing flow, forming beautiful, rhythmic structures.

The vortices were named after Theodore Von Karman, a pioneering aerodynamicist and co-founder of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Though rare to see so clearly, these vortex patterns appear in both liquids and gases and can sometimes even cause damage due to their turbulent nature.

Meteorologists admire the visual elegance and physical dynamics of these formations, often quoting Lewis Fry Richardson’s famous line: “Big whirls have little whirls, That feed on their velocity; And little whirls have lesser whirls, And so on to viscosity.”

This sighting off Guadalupe Island is a vivid reminder of the complexity and artistry found in Earth’s atmosphere.

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