photo taken from an airplane showing dry Arctic air (IMAGE)
Caption
This image, taken from the aircraft King Air — the left wing is visible at the bottom right, shows an open lead and the overlying nascent clouds commonly referred to as sea smoke. Sea smoke forms when extremely cold, dry Arctic air moves over comparatively warmer open water in a lead. The resulting intense evaporation saturates the air just above the surface, and as this warm, moist air mixes with the frigid overlying air, water vapor condenses into tiny droplets that rise as swirling, steam-like plumes.
Credit
Courtesy of CHACHA research team
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License
CC BY-NC-ND