I happened to take a photograph of a region of clouds ,and it seems to have a rather ordered arrangement ,if one looks towards the left of the image. Would there be a physical explanation for this or is it just chance?
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2$\begingroup$ density waves? frothing sea waves often display order $\endgroup$– anna vApr 18, 2019 at 8:27
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$\begingroup$ I was thinking about the physics aspect of things....If nothing comes by, might as well try Earth Science SE too $\endgroup$– MaanApr 18, 2019 at 9:14
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3$\begingroup$ cloud streets. $\endgroup$– Cosmas ZachosApr 18, 2019 at 10:53
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3$\begingroup$ Yes, this looks like cloud streets due to convection rather than wave clouds ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_cloud ) $\endgroup$– Anders SandbergApr 18, 2019 at 11:30
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1$\begingroup$ Please take a look at this answer - earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/4452/… $\endgroup$– gansubApr 26, 2019 at 5:28
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1 Answer
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These are weakly formed gravity clouds or density clouds. Clouds are formed from condensation, which is just tiny water (and other gases) droplets and vapor. As such, these tiny droplets and vapors will flow like ripples on the surface of water in a slow breeze. What you're seeing here is light-action wave ripples in the atmosphere and the resulting effect on the tiny droplets, is a wave-like or ripple-like pattern.
