16. Mediterranean Sea, Almeria-Oran Shear Wall

This shuttle photograph of the Almeria-Oran shear wall was taken less than 3 hours prior to the NOAA satellite image in slide #15. In this photograph, taken with a 250-mm lens, the shear wall runs diagonally across the frame with newly formed, tight spiral eddies spinning off the lefthand side. Toward the top of the frame, two ship wakes are visibly displaced after cutting through the shear front. Future oceanographic work from the shuttle will aim to follow the multisensor approach employed here (in comparing the scenes in slides #15 and #16) with additional investigations from ships and aircraft at selected locations.

STS-41G, October 1984. Picture #17-38-080

Right click here to download a high-resolution version of the image (8.47 MB)