Peter I Island Clouds

Peter I Island, seen stirring the clouds above the Southern Ocean.

Located in the Bellingshausen Sea off the coast of West Antarctica, Peter I Island is a remote, ice-covered volcano more than 1,100 miles from Cape Horn, Chile. In this image, captured on February 11, 2026, winds moving across the island were disrupted by its icy peak, creating a series of spiraling cloud patterns known as von Kármán vortex streets. These counter-rotating eddies form when air flows around an obstacle, slows, and spins into repeating swirls downwind.

Source imagery: @nasa