Very strange cloud formations on satellite

[Rocky Rascovich]

Hopefully this question I pose is in its right place.

Can someone check this satellite loop out and tell me what these lines are the picture?? These are too big to be contrails. You'll need a Weathertap subscription to check this out. Otherwise, go to another site that can zoom in on the northeastern Pacific. The link is time sensitive, maybe you can access this through the RAP site to get a longer duration loop. This has to be something human induced what's on this loop/picture. I would love some input
Below is the link:

http://www.weathertap.com/satellite/area/SAT_NPAC_VIS_ANI

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

Here is another link from the Univ. Of Washington. Look off the coast of BC and south of AK. It's hard to miss. This is a time sensitive link..

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/loops/wxloop.cgi?vis+1

 

[L Kimbrel]

Look a little to the left of those clouds, about an inch, and you can barely see another odd formation -- it's in the gap between the two large cloud bands. Another tight little group of criss-crossed cloud streaks, looks like an asterisk almost. Can't help you with what these are or could be caused by, though, maybe they are just some sort of artifact in the satellite image?

 

[Patrick Boomer]

Those look like ship tracks/trails.
From wikipedia:
Ship tracks are clouds that form around the exhaust released by ships into the still ocean air.
Water molecules collect around the tiny particles (aeorsols) from exhaust to form a cloud seed.
More and more water accumulates on the seed until a visible cloud is formed.
In the case of ship tracks, the cloud seeds are stretched over a long narrow path where the wind
has blown the ship's exhaust, so the resulting clouds resemble long strings over the ocean.

 

[Robert Rohloff]

Rocky, I think that some years ago there was a photo similar to this that was a high altitude military training, B52's I think. Tim V might know or someone who has been in the Air Force.

 

[Dennis Dennison]

It is our Government in action, spraying crap into weather systems to intensify them--lets all keep track on this system and see whatit does as it moves east.
I do not know how old most of you are-I am 54 and can tell you i always have watched the clouds and the weather-I NEVER have seen jet contrails that last all day, and spread out to form layers-not tracks more than a mile or two behind.

So either the GOV/Military is doing aerial spraying to modify weather (ALREADY ADMITTED THEY DO IT) or else there is some serious change in the atmosphere that is allowing jet emissions to hang and spread out.

Either of the two makes me nervous.

Boat tracks my A$$

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

I'm not worried about any spraying. But I wish I did know what it is. It is interesting looking.

 

[Patrick Marsh]

It is our Government in action, spraying crap into weather systems to intensify them--lets all keep track on this system and see whatit does as it moves east.
I do not know how old most of you are-I am 54 and can tell you i always have watched the clouds and the weather-I NEVER have seen jet contrails that last all day, and spread out to form layers-not tracks more than a mile or two behind.

So either the GOV/Military is doing aerial spraying to modify weather (ALREADY ADMITTED THEY DO IT) or else there is some serious change in the atmosphere that is allowing jet emissions to hang and spread out.

Either of the two makes me nervous.

Boat tracks my A$$

From the SPC website: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/coolimg/shiplume/index.html

As for contrails, I'm only 26 and have seen them last most of the day. I've also seen them develop into "actual" clouds.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

Wow, someone should be on a government conspiracy forum, not a scientific weather forum.

It is our Government in action, spraying crap into weather systems to intensify them--lets all keep track on this system and see whatit does as it moves east.
I do not know how old most of you are-I am 54 and can tell you i always have watched the clouds and the weather-I NEVER have seen jet contrails that last all day, and spread out to form layers-not tracks more than a mile or two behind.

So either the GOV/Military is doing aerial spraying to modify weather (ALREADY ADMITTED THEY DO IT) or else there is some serious change in the atmosphere that is allowing jet emissions to hang and spread out.

Either of the two makes me nervous.

Boat tracks my A$$

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

Based on what Patrick Boomer and Patrick Marsh suggested, and after looking at the SPC link, exhaust trails from ships are the likely culprit. I looked up some surface analysis charts from out there.. (the latest short range models and marine observation data).. I think winds were not much of an issue.. maybe 10-15kts at most. So this theory with the ship contrails is plausible. On the other hand, Dennis and Robert may not be far off from has happened in the past..I have read that the military is up to alot of stuff these days. But I don't think this is the case in this instance.

Thanks for the input guys!
Rocky&family

 

[Chad Cowan]

It is our Government in action, spraying crap into weather systems to intensify them--lets all keep track on this system and see whatit does as it moves east.
I do not know how old most of you are-I am 54 and can tell you i always have watched the clouds and the weather-I NEVER have seen jet contrails that last all day, and spread out to form layers-not tracks more than a mile or two behind.

So either the GOV/Military is doing aerial spraying to modify weather (ALREADY ADMITTED THEY DO IT) or else there is some serious change in the atmosphere that is allowing jet emissions to hang and spread out.

Either of the two makes me nervous.

Boat tracks my A$$

I'm 24 and I have NEVER seen a post as silly as that. You and Jim S need to watch less Fox News. And yes, I will be paying attention to this system as it moves east but only because I plan on chasing it and not to spot the little green men dropping hail from the skies.

 

[Chip Redmond]

The SPC does a good job with explaining it and giving a good example of the ship tracks. The only problem I have with todays display of clouds is that there are so many of them oriented the same direction. I feel that it was most likely very unlikely that, that many ships went in the same direction, in nearly the exact same path a certain distance from one another. There was just to many. The SPC's example seems to have just as many, only they are much more random. They are going every which way with no real pattern of ships. Unless a large fleet went either up north today or south, it doesn't really seem possible.


Chip

edit-I also don't believe to any extent that the government was involved. There is probably just a better explanation. It probably was ships, who knows.

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

Ship tracks are a very common thing - Especially in cool marine environments, such as off the coasts of California / Pacific NW and New England (NE USA) as well.

There are "shipping lanes", like highways, where many ships travel in similar directions / speeds, making for the seemingly straight paths of the plumes.

As for the government / military ... I am not sure. They are always doing something, and if they are, the last ones they are going to tell is the public.

Further reading on this topic (external link) can be found below...

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4027

Anyway, back to the ships ... The exhaust trails can leave a rather impressive and wide trail of fog / stratus along the path of particulates (mainly carbon and sulfur oxides) since these trigger condensation in the nearly saturated air.

There was a show (I forgot the name, but it was a series for earth-saving inventions / ideas) on the Discovery channel a few months back about methods to create clouds over the ocean using flares of silver iodide, also a fantastic "nucleator" for cloud formation. If the conditions were just right (moisture / wind), a large cloud (fog) could be fabricated over the sea surface ... It did not take much to produce a large cloud.

Ship exhaust can create the same / similar effect, and create a suprisingly long trail of condensation in its exhaust plume.

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

For the second day, these plume trails from the ships are showing up again. Click on the link below. I'm quite certain that this is what's causing this now. It's likely that surface winds remain under moderate speeds in the areas of question. Unless we want to continue the debate whether this is from the military or not (which should be carried on under chaser bar and grill section).. there is probably not much more to discuss about this. Thanks for all the input.

http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/goeswestpacus.html

 

[Christopher E. Kincaid]

I'm 24 and I have NEVER seen a post as silly as that. You and Jim S need to watch less Fox News. And yes, I will be paying attention to this system as it moves east but only because I plan on chasing it and not to spot the little green men dropping hail from the skies.

Don't blame Fox News...

I am 42 and I have seen the whole sky become overcast from spreading contrails many times.