10 Strange 'Dark Voids' Appear Over Remote Island Near Antarctica in Rare Satellite View

Now, a stunning new image captures these 10 twisting “dark voids” above 2 miles above the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,500 kilometers north of Antarctica. The event is a consequence of abnormal atmospheric events, creating clearly delineated black holes in cloud formations. With a width of about 13 kilometers the dark spots — signifying areas where winds are prevailing — formed as the presence of Mawson Peak, a 2.7 kilometer high volcano at island´s summit, distorted those in their path into an unusual spiral shape seldom visualised with such intensity and complexity.

Rare 90-Degree Cloud Vortices Twist Over Heard Island in NASA Satellite Image

According to NASA's Earth Observatory, It is the result of von Kármán vortices: spiral clouds that occur in alternating patterns when air flows past an obstacle, dividing the flow into two standout counter-rotating eddies. Previous instances of the traditional vortex trail were formed over Heard Island, but this time the dramatic mid-stream bend — a nearly 90-degree turn — resulted from powerful westerly winds known as the “Furious Fifties”, which gusting at speeds over 80 kilometers per hour are common in the area.

Usually, these vortices are thread-like features observed in surface films near Bear Island and Guadalupe Island in the Norwegian Sea during 2012–2013.But thick cloud was present above Heard Island allowing the focused vortex-cents to penetrate into high cloud tops. Which was leaving jagged holes and not smooth ones.

Mawson Peak is a smaller mountain than many that experience such vortices, which experts say makes the event less common. However, the isle has flashed these kinds of shapes before — as in this relatively straight river of air seen back in November 2015, a long line from that distortion to variations in atmospheric conditions that create these naturally occurring flow patterns.

The new view serves as a dramatic reminder of the complex dance between geography and weather, showing how a lonely mountain such as these volcanoes can leave their mark on the planet's atmosphere in ways that are visible from space.