Trout Fishing With Gravity Waves

[Michael Lerch]

..or ..Rainbow With The Blues…

They have been on the edges of the horizon for a few days. Today they decided to come into the Valley. Arizona has at the moment , I believe four major forest fires raging. So it was a just a matter of time before the high borne soot would be pushed along for the city dwellers to enjoy in a tables turned kind of way. Pyro clouds are never a joy to see.

Pyro stratus is difficult to photograph with a digital camera. Electronic focus has nothing to grab on to. Even with ripples and waves in the polluted pond of the sky there is little contrast in Pyro Stratus for modern cameras to hook on to. So “manual” techniques come into play. That is when it hit me.

When trout fishing you have to know where the trout are. One reliable place to find  these  future tasty  meals is …down stream from the rapids, the shallow segment of a stream  that hurries over rock. Just on the edge, downstream, is where they gather. One reason is..the water is aerated .The choppy rapids mix oxygen into the water..making it easier for the fish to get their oxygen. So the aspirated water allows the fish to be more efficient. Are you there yet?

The third part of this strange congruence is the recent article ( Tuesday)in the Washington Post OnLine version. A story was about a cloud formation that wasn’t identified and named until 2017…a cloud formation that is rare as it is difficult to pronounce..I guess Latin is difficult for a lot of Americans. At least they got our founder’s name correct. Just as important though was the relating of two theories on how Asperitas happens. They used a very good shot of  Undulatus Asperitas taken in Australia to explain the ” waves”..the waves in the pond  that the sky is…gravity waves…ripples across the atmospheric pond.

Picture provided below of todays encroachment of pyro stratus..undulatus(?)  just mite be the manifestation of the gravity waves, ripples in the atmospheric pond that is our sky. The second shot actually reminds me of Asperitas shots  I’ve taken,,but it is of distant pyro stratus  flowing over the northern hills, mesas and plateaus..getting aerated.

I left a small segment of contrail in the last shot for scale..center right.

[Patricia L Keelin]

Thank you for sharing these beauties, Michael. You certainly know how to catch the most delicious images. And I love your analogy to trout fishing. I’ll bet you’re successful with that as well!

[Michael Lerch]

Thanks Keelin..A favorite past time was spending a summer weekend at one of my favorite fishing holes on top of the Mogollon ( muggy-own)Rim. While waiting for a bite you can watch a towering cumulus nimbus develop almost overhead.

[Hans Stocker]

Simply amazing Michael these observations together with the smooth and elegant asperitas-like lines in the cloud formation. A fantastic catch so to speak with your digital fishing line!

[Author]

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