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by © Corbis. All Rights Reserved. - © NASA/Corbis
Exhaust clouds from ships over the Pacific Ocean
04 Mar 2009 --- They may look like airplane contrails, but the streaky clouds shown in this photo-like image formed around the exhaust left in the wake of ships traveling Northern Pacific Ocean, just south of Alaska. All clouds form when water molecules coalesce onto tiny particles in the atmosphere. The particles can be natural things like dust or sea salt, but they can also be aerosols emitted by human activity. With only the water's surface to influence it, air over the ocean tends to be uniform, often resulting in flat sheets of clouds that cover a wide area. When ships introduce new particles into the air by pumping out a stream of exhaust, water molecules readily cling to the particles, creating long clouds called ship tracks that trail behind a ship. Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
