Kelvin-Helmholtz Clouds aka “van Gogh clouds”
Taken by Matti Helin on October 29, 2018 in Finland

Helin snapped this picture of “van Gogh clouds”

These clouds, also known as “billow clouds,” are produced by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability when horizontal layers of air brush by one another at different velocities. It is widely believed that these waves in the sky inspired the swirls in van Gogh’s masterpiece The Starry Night.

In this case, the clouds were traced by the motion of air and painted by the colors of the Arctic sunset. Helin’s video of the phenomenon sets the canvas in motion. Watch it on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erd-GVL91Ko

Click for larger image.