"These counter-rotating spirals form when airflow is deflected by the island, slows, and spins into eddies."
On February 11, 2026, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured a rare and striking image of von Kármán vortex streets on the lee side of Peter I Island in the Southern Ocean.
Wind speeds required for this formation range from 18 to 54 kilometers per hour (11–34 mph). The resulting counter-rotating spirals are a classic meteorological phenomenon, shaped by a 1,640-meter-high shield-like volcano—an island with a 100-meter-wide summit crater.
Peter I Island is located at 68.86 degrees south latitude in the Bellingshausen Sea, approximately 400 kilometers off the coast of West Antarctica and over 1,800 kilometers from Cape Horn, Chile.
Discovery and Exploration
Discovered in 1821 by Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, the island saw its first landing in 1929. Since then, scientific research has been limited due to its remote location and challenging ice conditions, with studies focusing on geology, biodiversity, and climate history.
NASA surveyed the island during an Operation IceBridge flight on November 3, 2011, capturing a photo from the DC-8 aircraft. No recent eruptions have been recorded.
Image Credit
The image and associated story were provided by NASA Earth Observatory (image by Michala Garrison using Landsat data from U.S. Geological Survey; story by Lindsey Doermann).