When you buy through links on our site , we may realise an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
A satellite simulacrum showing peculiar hexagonal cloud over the sea area known as the Bermuda Triangle is prompting speculation about whether they may represent a repeat phenomenon responsible for decennium of unexplained disappearances in the realm .
The exposure appeared in the Science Channel ’s " What on Earth " ? series in a recent episode about theBermuda Triangle , a loosely defined area bound on the west by the tip of Florida , to the south by Puerto Rico and to the Union by Bermuda . In the image , oddly shaped swarm networks hovered above the triangle ’s westerly summit , off the coast of Florida , over the Bahamas . Seen from above , the clouds seem to form six - sided outlines , like honeycombs , with operose edges . They drift in size from 20 to 55 miles ( 32 to 89 kilometers ) across , according to the Science Channel .
Open-cell cloud formation over the Bahamas, imaged by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on Feb. 19, 2002.
harmonise to the Science Channel , standardized cloud formations in the North Sea near the U.K. have been associated with so - called " air bombs " — powerful downdraft of air that could overpower and destroy ship and airplanes . But even though the clouds over the North Sea and the Bahamas may look the same , they in all likelihood have unlike cause and interact with the ocean below in different ways , expert say . [ veranda : fall back in the Bermuda Triangle ]
The image over the Bahamas was captured in 2002 byNASA ’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( MODIS ) instrument on the Terra planet . The Science Channel identify the hexagon as measuring close to 20 to 55 miles across , and call for comparability to an image of a exchangeable cloud shape 4,500 geographical mile ( 7,200 kilometre ) aside , over the North Sea .
Randy Cerveny , a meteorologist at Arizona State University , told the Science Channel that the hexagonal shapes were signatures of " microbursts , " speedy and highly focussed blasts of down - moving air that can render ocean - surface winds reaching nearly 100 miles per hour ( 161 km / h ) and sea waves predominate more than 40 foot ( 12 metre ) high — which could for sure wreak mayhem on the ocean aerofoil and any vessel on or near it .
Illustration of a microburst. The air moves in a downward motion until it hits ground level, then spreads outward in all directions.
concord to the Science Channel , radar effigy of the North Sea clouds did reveal underlying wind blast close to 100 miles per hour . However , the episode did not present any evidence that similar winds knock about the Atlantic Ocean under the hexagonal clouds seen over the Bahamas in 2002 , read only that " scientists believe " the same winds survive .
And meteorologist Kevin Corriveautold NBC Newsthat the hexagonal shape of the Bermuda clouds did not display the typical signature of a microburst .
" You would unremarkably have one big toextremely magnanimous thunderstormthat would n’t have an opening move in the middle , " he said .
Open- and closed-cell clouds over the Pacific, imaged by MODIS on Feb. 1, 2016.
He explain that the atmospheric condition pattern in the two areas were too different to permit comparisons between similar cloud shapes . Moreover , the funny formation in the Bahamas may have occurred because of erratic weather design created by small island heating the melodic line differently than the Florida coastline .
" I would n’t say what we ’re learn in the Bahamas is the exact same as in the North Sea , " Corriveau say .
Honeycomb swarm networks are in reality a veritable happening under sure condition in the mid - latitudes , harmonize to NASA — they can take material body as part of a low - pressure organization or cyclone when frigid air mass move over strong pee . And they can form as subject - jail cell cloud — cloud limn border an empty space — or closed in - cell cloud , which are self-colored pattern .
Since the 1940s , oodles of ships and airplanes have gone lacking while traveling through the Bermuda Triangle . Disappearances were pick on legion implausible culprits , from thelost urban center of Atlantisto deep - seamethane blast .
Equipment failure and human error are less striking explanations for vanished vessel in the Bermuda Triangle , but they are the most probable ones , experts say . " There is no evidence thatmysterious disappearancesoccur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large , well - traveled area of the sea , " the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement .
Original article onLive Science .
