Over the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, winds can whip around the globe relatively unimpeded by land.
Intrepid sailors termed thesesouthern latitudesthe Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties, and Screaming Sixties on account of the strong prevailing winds.
When those winds encounter a barrier like an island, the disruption in airflow can be beautiful.
One impediment, shown here, is remote Peter I Island.
This ice-cloaked volcano lies at 68.86 degrees south latitude in the Bellingshausen Sea, some 400 kilometers off the coast of West Antarctica and more than 1,800 kilometers from Cape Horn, Chile.
On an austral summer day in 2026, the Landsat 8satellite captured this image ofvon Kármán vortex streetsdownwind of the island.
These counterrotatingspirals formas flowing air is deflected, slows, and spins into eddies.
A stiff, but perhaps not quite “screaming,” wind was likely blowing that day.
Wind speeds typically need to be18 to 54 kilometers per hour for vortices to form.
With stronger gales, the eddies cannot maintain their shape.
Thefollowing day, vortex streets appeared within a complex array of cloud types near the island.
Where the clouds parted around the island, some of its icy edifice became visible to the satellite.
A 100-meter-wide circular crater sits at its summit, 1,640 meters above sea level.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program describes the island as a “shield-like volcano,” but there are no records of recent eruptions.
Scientific research on Peter I Island has been limited due to its remote location and the challenging ice conditions surrounding it.
The island was discovered in 1821 by the Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausenand named for atsar, but no one landed on it until 1929.
The relatively few studies since have focused ongeology, biodiversity, and theclimate historyrecorded in its ice.
NASA surveyed the island during anOperation IceBridgecampaign in 2011.
This airborne science mission collected a suite of measurements over Earth’s polar ice in the period between the ICESat andICESat-2satellite missions to sustain the record of observations in these regions.
While NASA’sDC-8 aircraftflew back to Chile from Antarctica, where teams spent the day measuring the Getz Ice ShelfandThwaites Glacierfrom the air, thecrew on boardcaught a rare glimpse of the remote island.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from theU.S. Geological Survey. Photo courtesy of Christopher Shuman, UMBC. Story by Lindsey Doermann.
JPEG
Jackson, M.,et al.The Biodiversity of Peter I Island—The Most Remote Island in the World. Ecology and Evolution, 15, e71634.
NASA Science, IceBridge. Accessed May 6, 2026.
On Thin IceThe fragile fringe of West Antarctica. Accessed May 6, 2026.
Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program, Peter I Island. Accessed May 6, 2026.
Thomas, E. R.,et al.The first firn core from Peter I Island – capturing climate variability across the Bellingshausen Sea. Climate of the Past, 20, 2525–2538.
Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.
Winds blowing past the volcanic landmass near the Korean Peninsula created a trail of spiraling clouds, while murky water churned…
The activity of herring around Vancouver Island in British Columbia brightened coastal waters enough to be detectable from space.
A network of meltwater lakes and drainage channels made an Antarctic ice shelf known for its blue ice areas even…
Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox.
NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery.
Explore Earth Science
Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data