Contrail Thread Volume II
- This topic has 100 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 10 months ago by
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Haha, my favorites! But oops this reply was meant for a former post with the jazz musicians you mentioned Alec. Very funny!
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The creativity on this trail has been incredible. I have been enjoying these pictures and comments very much.
Hans, I have a question for you: how do you get those Crow instability pictures? Obviously, you use a telephoto lens, but I am more interested in the circumstances in which you see this phenomenon. Is this happening a lot where you live?
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I agree George, this thread is a real joy. Unfortunately mr. Crow himself left the forum for a uncertain time, but there must be enough material to keep it interesting and going.
For the practical part of your question: I use a 100 – 400 mm telezoom. And then a picture can also be cropped for even more detail. The circumstances are first of all the right plane. That means one with wingtips that give the kind of vortices needed for Crow instability.
This is a link with some information I once found: Crow instability in contrails.
Another page on the same site:Hybrid Contrails with Crow Instability.
This last page states that the the phenomenon typically occurs at high humidity and low altitude.
I don’t know how high or low low is meant to be here. I live in the proximity (about 10 to 20 km distance) of Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) so there is a lot of air traffic around, but the planes are luckily for me not low when they pass. When I spotted some interesting trail it wasn’t specifically a low trail or else I would have remembered it for the noise. The planes are mostly that high that only a distant sound can be heard. A typical day with a lot of contrail you can find in Contrail Thread Volume I on the pictures with the higher numbers: enough humidity by cirrus or cirrostratus.
And at last you must have the opportunity (i.e. the time) to look after them. A few days ago it was a cold day with clear blue sky and dry air from the east. That seems not to be favorable, but at a certain moment I spotted a nice trail to capture. I sprinted inside to get my camera, but when back within much less than a minute (my second name is Usain) it was already gone. Maybe they last a bit longer when there is more humidity but the camera must be at hand to capture it.
We had a lot of too heavily clouded gray skies for about a month over here (except for the occasion two days ago). Now I watch out for the circumstances to look after your castellanus issue or for a next one in the Contrail Game or whatever makes a nice picture with contrail.
I hope this helps. I look forward for an example you will spot some day, but beware for the ones that leave your chimney!
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Thank you Hans, this is informative and funny. So, what makes it possible or likely to catch special contrail effects? Well, first you have to have contrails so this means certain humidity and temperature of the air where the airplanes fly. That’s not something that you can change. Then you need airplanes. That’s something that you may be able to change but it would require moving, not easy to do, I happen to have that ingredient where I am with three major airports and international routes above. Finally, you have to have a serious camera with a big zoom ready and keep watching the skies. Am I missing anything?
So I think, Hans you are a keen observer with some time on your hands. More power to you and bring us more pictures.
BTW, I also noticed that you are very close to the top of the cloudspotter rankings. You only need seven points to get the maximum. I wonder what clouds or optical phenomena you are missing. I hope I am not being too intrusive.
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George, I understand the circumstances for you are there to spot Crowtrail. Time and the right moment is an issue nevertheless. I already saw some nice examples from you. I look forward for more. Maybe also a new timelapse from you?
A little film i found on YouTube: 747 Crow. The Boeing 747 seems to have the wingtips needed to give the right vortices.
I do have some time myself indeed being retired. I have had a lot of fun with the cloudspotter app competing with my brother in law who I once got enthusiastic about using it. I am missing the tuba and the cap cloud. For the tuba one must not be sorry that they are very rare over here. The cap cloud needs something higher than just dunes. So it may take long for these to spot I think.
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Thank you Hans. That video is fascinating. I got caught in flugsnug’s channel and watched a few more. These are very well done, professional videos. Here is one that shows the effect of turbulence on clouds:
So thank you again for helping me discover that.
And good luck with the last two clouds in Cloudspotter! I hope to catch up with you some day. I have now 92 points, missing four clouds and two optical phenomena.
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Nice undulatus background.
These contrail shadows are a challenge to interpret. According to Les Cowley, the contrails are always above the layer on which the shadow appears. Could it be that the contrail without a shadow is below that layer? Or possibly the contrail is completely covering its shadow?
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Very clever, Hans, as usual. How many chromosomes does a contrail have? :-)
And since you asked for a timelapse, here is one I took a while back. Two layers of clouds moving in different directions. Not unusual, but without the timelapse not so evident. The higher layer seems to be contrails and clouds resulting from contrails.
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Ha-ha, very funny, Hans!
Here is another kind of contrail:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=91608&src=eoa-iotd
Also, interesting reading if you click on the “open-cell clouds” link in the article.
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Based on what we’ve seen in the past, Hans, I wouldn’t be surprised if that furry little creature chooses the road that crosses the pond. I’ll keep an eye out for him!
The trail below was very short, so I stitched a couple of sequenced photos together to create the image below. Imagine a quilt of clouds, if you will, and the lofty dreams it would surely inspire.
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Sunset over the Hudson Bay on a contrail day. Can you count them? I also see one or two flying mustaches :-)
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Hygge, thank you, but I don’t know how to interpret you comment about having to make choices.
Anyway, I wish I could help you fix you computer problem. It can only be a software problem, some missing program or plug-in. You can ignore my little time lapses, but some professional ones are incredible.
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Nice video George. Difficult indeed to count the contrails. I guess it are Cheshire moustaches you have seen?
A few days ago I thought of you and your question whether castellanus was possible as a cloud feature on top of contrail Alec Jones put forward that everything is possible with contrail that is also possible for other cloudtypes. I still look for something alike but a few days ago I saw another phenomenon on contrail. I found out there are other examples on the gallery to find, but it was the first time I observed KH on top of contrail.
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Thank you, George, for sharing your lovely videos with us.
And Hans, beautiful images above! I’ve never seen K-H atop a contrail. That sight must have been fun to watch develop. Below, an old contrail has gathered some friends alongside as it morphs into something beyond its original self.
Contrail and Friends -
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Wonderful shot, Hans — with a hilarious title!
Thanks for kind words, George. And yes, I still have just my little iPhone 5s. Limited, of course, but very handy. And if it wasn’t so quick to use, I might have been too late to capture this tall stack of contrail pancakes before they were devoured by the toothy fellow below.
Just What I Ordered -
Keelin, it is amazing what you can do with your smartphone. You must have an eye for the right shots on a basis of a healthy pareidolic approach. By the way, do you know there are lenses available for a i-phone (olloclip)? Tele, wide and even macro.
Here under something where I had to zoom in.
A peculiar formed distrail and some contrail.
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Shootin’ The Curl
Slacklining
Contrail and Friends
Just What I Ordered
Sunrise Contrail- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
