This summer, the skies of the Canary Islands presented us with a spectacle of nature that dazzles and fascinates equally: the Von Kármán vortices.
Weather events like these form in areas where subtropical anticyclones prevail.
What are the Von Kármán Vortices?
When the Canary sky fills with stratocumulus or cumulus clouds, the inhabitants and visitors of the archipelago prepare to witness a fascinating phenomenon: the Von Kármán vortices. Their name pays tribute to Théodore Von Kármán, the Hungarian-American engineer and physicist who described the formation of these vortices in 1911.
The Von Kármán vortices are almost parallel rows of vortices located in alternating positions and rotation directions along the trail of an obstacle in a fluid, such as the atmosphere, under specific favorable conditions. When these conditions occur, the vortices can manifest as cloudy swirls in the lower layers of the atmosphere.
Where do they form?
This phenomenon is not exclusive to the Canary Islands. It is also common in other archipelagos and islands such as Madeira, Cape Verde, Guadeloupe, Socorro, and Jan Mayen in the North Atlantic, and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
The Formation of Von Kármán Vortices
The spectacle of the Von Kármán vortices begins in areas dominated by subtropical anticyclones, characterized by their stability and the presence of a pronounced thermal inversion. This layer of air, where the temperature increases with altitude, acts as a kind of atmospheric "lid."
The complete formation of these vortices requires the wind to be stationary and exceed 10 meters per second. This phenomenon is a true dance of nature, reminding us of the complexity and wonder of our world. And in each whirl, in each spiral, lies the legacy of Théodore Von Kármán, allowing us to understand and appreciate this magnificent natural spectacle.