scombrid
Senior Member.
Those "strange clouds" are created by lee waves. Interesting for sure but not new, not all that unusual, and not caused by electromagnetic radiation being beamed at the clouds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_wave
http://www.caem.wmo.int/_pdf/turbulence/OrographicTurbulence.pdf
In my previous post I stated that the island sticks up just high enough to disrupt the thermocline (which exists when there is a sharp temperature inversion). The second link I provided says conditions for lee wave formation require a sharp inversion at 100-150% of ridge crest height and directional wind shear or rapid decrease in wind speed above the inversion. That basically means that the surface layer must be moving relative to the layer above it then the surface layer passing over islands or mountain ranges creates the same effect as a ship moving on the surface of the sea.
You don't want to fly an airplane into those waves if the waves are big enough. The effect is somewhat like slamming into the wake of a big ship at high speed in your run-about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_wave
http://www.caem.wmo.int/_pdf/turbulence/OrographicTurbulence.pdf
In my previous post I stated that the island sticks up just high enough to disrupt the thermocline (which exists when there is a sharp temperature inversion). The second link I provided says conditions for lee wave formation require a sharp inversion at 100-150% of ridge crest height and directional wind shear or rapid decrease in wind speed above the inversion. That basically means that the surface layer must be moving relative to the layer above it then the surface layer passing over islands or mountain ranges creates the same effect as a ship moving on the surface of the sea.
You don't want to fly an airplane into those waves if the waves are big enough. The effect is somewhat like slamming into the wake of a big ship at high speed in your run-about.