Clouds trace mountain ridges in the Chinese province of Yunnan

Clouds trace mountain ridges in the Chinese province of Yunnan. Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features mountain ridges and deep river gorges in the Chinese province of Yunnan.

While the ridges exceed 5,000 meters, the lowest parts of the gorges are just a few hundred meters above sea level. Clouds trace mountain ridges in the Chinese province of Yunnan

The photograph captures long rows of parallel clouds that traced some of the mountain ridges on January 6, 2021. Clouds trace mountain ridges in the Chinese province of Yunnan. 

According to NASA, these orographic clouds form when the shape of the landscape forces moist air up to altitudes high enough and cold enough for the water vapor to condense. 

Orographic clouds often appear stationary because their formation is so dependent on the shape of the land below. Yunnan is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People’s Republic of China. The province spans approximately 394,000 square kilometres and has a population of 48,3 million. The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, autonomous regions of Guangxi, and Tibet as well as Southeast Asian countries: Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Yunnan is China’s fourth least developed province based on disposable income per capita in 2014. Yunnan (云南) is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People’s Republic of China. The province spans approximately 394,000 square kilometres (152,000 sq mi) and has a population of 48.300 million (as of 2018).

The image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer