The Discovery crew photographed this very distinct stripe running through the clouds for several hundred miles. Two weather systems are sliding past each other rather like crustal plates on the Earth’s surface. The one at the top of the photograph (geographical north) is moving up and curving away slightly to the north, while the system at the bottom of the frame is moving westward and curving gently to the south in conjunction with a cyclone located several hundred miles away. The miniature cold water gyres on the fringes of the two weather systems indicate that a channel of colder water runs under the break in the clouds and is reflected above where colder air runs between the two cloud masses.

STS 51-G, June 1985. Picture #25-31-011.

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