File:Cloud Streets and Sea Ice in Sea of Okhotsk (MODIS 2024-01-02).jpg

English: Frosty air sweeping across winter-white Eastern Russia created stunning cloud formations over the Sea of Okhotsk on December 29, 2023. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the frigid scene that same day. Snow covers much of mainland Russia in the west of the image, including Sakhalin Island. Cold temperatures have frozen the Strait of Tartary, between Eastern Russia and the island. A large raft of sea ice clings to the eastern side of Sakhalin Island. To the east of the frozen landscape, long parallel rows of cumulus clouds cover the blue waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. These rows of cloud, known as “cloud streets” form as cold, dry air from the land blows across relatively warmer, much moister ocean water and create cylinders of spinning air. Where the air is rising, small clouds form. Where the air is descending, the skies are clear. The cloud streets align along the direction of the wind movement.