Image: Flow Visualization - A Course in the Physics and Art of Fluid Flow
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2006 Gallery - Clouds 1
Clouds represent a fabulous form of flow visualization that is available to everybody, almost every day. Clouds can reveal a tremendous amount about the flows and physics of the atmosphere.
Instructions for the cloud assignment: Photograph a cloud. In fact, photograph clouds as often as possible. You will soon discover that it is not easy to do but that it is a very pleasant diversion from everything else that you do. Do keep track of where, when, and how the image was made. A report is required. Seek atmospheric sounding data and discuss the physics revealed. Exceptional images made prior to this course are acceptable; document them as best you can.
The most famous "cloud" photographs were made in black and white by the legendary early twentieth century New York art dealer, photographer, and husband of Georgia O'Keefe, Alfred Steiglitz. He called them "equivalents" and considered them to be music. Sunrise and sunset are sometimes quite colorful or even extraordinary, but difficult to picture in a satisfying way. During the day, individual clouds can be extremely interesting. In the course of this assignment you will discover what the English writer and amateur photographer George Bernard Shaw once said about the photographer: "The photographer is like the cod (fish) who lays a million eggs so that one may hatch." So, keep looking up and keep pressing the button. And, if you have access to an extreme wide angle lens as well as a telephoto lens, use them as needed and as often as possible. Clouds require that you think outside the box.
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Grant Bovee

1/30/06, Boulder CO. Edge of a nimbostratus sheet as a warm front moves in.

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Mike Demmons

2/27/06, USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, CO. Altocumulus.

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Andrea Fabri

Summer 2005, 10:30 am, Boulder CO. Cumulus fractus.

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Tanner Ladtkow

1/30/2006, Boulder, CO. Altocumulus lenticularis, or 'mountain wave' cloud forms in the lee of the Rocky Mountains as stable air comes over the mountains and 'bounces.'

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Chris Kuhn

8/11/2004, near Tuscon, AZ. Monsoon-induced cumulus and cumulonimbus.

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Lok Kin Lee

2/21/2006, Boulder, CO. Cumulus fractus in a mountain wave.

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Jake Lilevjen

2/21/2006, Boulder, CO. Cumulus fractus in a mountain wave.

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Tim Read

Altocumulus lenticularis, Boulder, CO.
   
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Nigel Gorbold

2/25/06, 10 AM, Boulder, CO. Altocumulus lenticularis formed downwind of Bear Peak in high-velocity Foehn winds.

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Christopher McCray

2/27/06, NW of Boulder, CO. Wind shear rolls altocumulus lenticularis into a display of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

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Hwapyong Ko

2/25/06, 3pm, Boulder, CO. Altocumulus lenticuaris, with sparse cumulus below, suggesting low level instability with an upper stable layer.

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Geneva Wilkesanders

1/30/06, 7AM, west of Superior, CO. A vertically propagating mountain wave results in a stack of lenticular clouds.

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Melissa Talmage

2/2/06, 4:30 PM, Boulder, CO. Altocumulus viewed straight up.

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Molly Selting

2/9/06, 2:38 PM, looking SW from Boulder, CO. Stratocumulus.

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Ryan Mansfield

2/28/06, 5 PM, Boulder CO. Cumulus humulis.

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Kaleena Menke

2/28/06, Denver area. Cumulus below altostratus.

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Taylor Simonson

6/7/05, 8:25 PM, Greeley, CO. Nimbostratus.

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Christopher Skallerud

2/21/06, 4:15 PM, Boulder, CO. Cumulus fractus in a mountain wave.

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Chris Ostoich

2/21/06, 11:30 AM, Boulder, CO. Cumulus fractus in a mountain wave.

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Dustin Scaplo

   
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James Palmer

1/30/06, just before sunset, Boulder CO. A vertically propagating mountain wave results in a stack of altocumulus lenticularis.

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Tyler Harrison

2/25/06, 2:30 PM, Eldorado Springs, CO. Altocumulus undulatus.

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