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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The reason for waves

It's a good day when one learns a new word (or term)



This amazing photo was taken by someone in Alabama.  It shows tsunami-like (or dinosaur-like) clouds marching over the horizon.

The photo, along with a lot of others, was sent to a weather station, as lots of people were very curious to know how it happened.

Well, according to Live Science, it is the Kelvin-Helmholtz effect.

In both the sea and the sky, Kelvin-Helmholtz waves form when a fast-moving layer glides over a slower, denser layer, dragging its surface and breaking it up.

That's why ocean waves break.

Good heavens, I've been watching waves all my life, and never knew that.  And I have used a new term twice, a definite plus.


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