New Zealand’s “pet cloud” has recently been spotted from high above Earth after returning to its favorite spot where it’s been seen time and time again for decades.
Known locally as the “Taieri Pet,” the sausage-shaped cloud has continually formed over this part of Otago’s mountains on the South Island.
One of the first published mentions of the cloud appeared in 1896 in the newspaper Otago Witness. Another notable appearance was captured in a black and white photograph by an aircraft in May 1951.
In its latest arrival, the pet cloud was spotted over 700 kilometers (434 miles) above Earth’s surface by the Landsat 8 satellite on September 7, 2024.
“The Taieri Pet is a common feature found in the skies near Middlemarch, Otago,” John Law, a meteorologist at New Zealand’s MetService, told NASA Earth Observatory.
The Taieri Pet is an example of a lenticular cloud that forms in the troposphere when winds encounter a mountain, large buildings, or any other insurmountable structure. In the case of the Taieri Pet, the topographical blockade is the Rock and Pillar Range in Otago, which runs perpendicular to strong winds from the northwest.
Aerial view of Strath Taieri, near Middlemarch, showing the cloud formation known as the Taieri Pet, taken May 1951.
The tall mountains block the flow of air, causing the wind to travel up and over the barrier, creating a wave. At the crest of the wave where the humid air rises and falls, its water vapor condenses into clouds. The clouds stay fixed in place because the airflow constantly replenishes it with moisture.
The fluffy cloud becomes carved by the strong winds, giving it a distinctive, smooth appearance.
“As the cloud forms on the crest of this wave, it remains almost stationary in the sky and is shaped by the strong winds blowing through it,” Law explained.
They can also form in a stacked arrangement, a bit like a pile of dinner plates. Under the right lighting conditions, such as when the sun is low on the horizon, they may even reflect iridescent colors due to the diffraction of light.
Lenticular clouds are occasionally mistaken for UFOs or flying saucers in the sky – and it’s not hard to see why.
While they may not be evidence of an incoming alien invasion, lenticular clouds do have the potential to cause problems. Pilots of powered aircraft tend to avoid flying near them because they’re often accompanied by turbulence. Conversely, glider pilots might actively seek them out because they indicate that air is rising around them.
