51B-147-31 (Linhof 250 mm)
Flight 51B; 34.1N, 120.2W, 3 May 1985
A mixture of prevailing winds and a local Santa Ana (downslope katabatic wind) created patterns on the
sea surface off Point Conception and in the Santa Barbara Channel, California, as the Challenger moved
over the coast in the springtime. The prevailing northwest wind was blowing briskly enough to form wind
slicks (Langmuir cells) along with whitecaps on the offshore sea surface. These same northwesterly winds
produced an atmospheric wake behind small San Miguel Island that finally merged into a cross-hatched
layer of stratus cloud well south of the Channel Islands. These winds aided in creating the turbulent ocean
wake behind Santa Cruz Island, just east of San Miguel.
Imposed on the prevailing winds was a local downslope Santa Ana flow of
air developed as the result of a high-pressure system in the atmosphere lying over eastern California and
Nevada. That wind, blowing from the north, caused the cross-hatching on the sea surface barely visible
south of Point Conception and in the stratus clouds lying over the water south of the Channel Islands, and
the blue "wind shadows" off the coast of Santa Barbara. Such a mixture of winds is not uncommon along
this part of the California coast, making Vandenberg Air Force Base, seen to the north of Point Arguello,
one of the windier and cooler locations along the California shore.
Download 53.tiff high resolution TIFFfile (8.3 MB)
Atmos Composition
