Help with Photo Of Dark Lines in Clouds needed.

Timothy Bray

New Member
This was taken around 7:30 am north of ABQ. The intersecting lines moved with the stratus undulatus clouds rather rapidly from mostly east to west staying just as delineated and did not dissipate.

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It looks exactly like contrail shadows.

And since contrails, which are literally clouds, persist and move just like other clouds... the shadows would move with the contrails.


The contrail is simply casting a shadow on a layer of cloud beneath it. The cloud layer is thin enough so you can see through it, but it’s visible, so you can see the shadow on it. Theoretically you could cast a shadow on a cloud layer above or behind a contrail, if the sun were low enough, but this would be rather difficult to observe. Most “dark lines” are of this type. There’s an excellent explanation of these shadows over at Atmospheric Optics.
http://contrailscience.com/contrails-dark-lines-chemtrails/
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Did you take a zoomed out shot?
 
Yes I took with some zoom. Does the rapid departure that stayed synchronized alter your conclusion. Seems the contrail would have either dissipated at a different rate or moved to change the angles.
 
Does the rapid departure that stayed synchronized alter your conclusion
you mean..?, does the fact that the contrail moved at the same speed as the clouds alter my conclusion? No. Contrails are clouds too.

dissipated at a different rate or moved to change the angles
depends on the wind and the altitudes. i would think the angles would change a bit, but they probably did and you just didnt notice. Which is why more photos would be helpful, video even better.
 
Yes I took with some zoom. Does the rapid departure that stayed synchronized alter your conclusion. Seems the contrail would have either dissipated at a different rate or moved to change the angles.

Contrails at different altitudes move at different speeds (and direction) and can dissipate at different rates.
 
Yes. I wish I would have taken video!!! After reviewing the original again, in light of your explanation (as well as the same from my son who is a atmospheric science pHD student) now I see what I thought was clear blue sky between clouds is actually more shadow like. Thanks for your opinion.
 
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