Time-lapse photography of clouds and other phenomena in the sky

20080209_1750-1818utc_LaCaleta.mpg  (10.7 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080209_1750-1818utc_LaCaleta.mov  (12.4 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

First of the time-lapse series from our vacation at Tenerife, Canary Islands. It shows typical convective clouds, forming at the slopes of the coastal hills surrounding the island. In the foreground is La Caleta, small fisherman village, while in the distance is Playa de las Americas, an extensive tourist agglomeration.

20080209_1832-1850utc_Gomera.mpg  (6.8 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080209_1832-1850utc_Gomera.mov  (7.7 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

Sunset hidden behind shower clouds, next to Gomera Island. Captured from cliffs near La Caleta village, Tenerife, Canary Islands.

20080210_1344-1510utc_Teide.mpg  (16.2 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080210_1344-1510utc_Teide.mov  (17.0 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

Clouds forming in the lee of Pico del Teide (3718 m), Tenerife. While in the lowest 3 km layer the winds were very weak on that day (almost calm), higher above this level the winds were much stronger, blowing from the northwest (from the left in these images). This resulted in wake rotor motion to right of the Teide summit, manifested by rolling clouds there...

20080214_1550-1640utc_MontanaBlanca.mpg  (10.0 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080214_1550-1640utc_MontanaBlanca.mov  (9.9 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

Low clouds above the southeastern coast of Tenerife, as viewed from the summit of Montaña Blanca (2750 m). Similar situations are quite typical for the island - while the slopes of the coastal mountains or the entire coast are covered by low clouds, the highland plateau surrounded by Circo Cañadas Mts. (2300 - 2700 m) enjoys clear skies. If any clouds manage to overflow this ridge, they usually quickly dissolve, as in this case. See also the MODIS/Terra image taken at 11:40 UTC (where the red dot indicates the location from where the sequence was taken, and the arrow its direction), and also a full-day loop from Meteosat 9 satellite.

20080218_1557-1645utc_Guajara.mpg  (9.5 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080218_1557-1645utc_Guajara.mov  (10.3 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

"River of clouds" above the southeastern coast of Tenerife, captured from Degollada de Guajara Pass (2375 m), under Guajara Mt. (2717 m). Thin dark layers in the distance are clouds of Saharan dust, making their way across the Atlantic Ocean. This dust passed above Tenerife on the next day (see the following case). See also the MODIS/Aqua 14:28 UTC image and the Meteosat 9 loop.

20080219_1158-1235utc_Teide.mpg  (7.9 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080219_1158-1235utc_Teide.mov  (12.5 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

Pico del Teide, low clouds above Orotava Valley and the northwest coast of Tenerife, as viewed from Mirador les Cumbres (~ 1900 m). Since it was almost calm at the lowest 2 km, the clouds do not flow anywhere, but only "bubble" and "splash" around. Above the 2 km level were very strong winds from the west, which also brought some Saharan dust during this sequence. The dust layer seems to be vertically very thin, drifting between about the 2 to 3.5 km levels. See also the MODIS/Terra 11:55 UTC image (in this case taken exactly with the beginning of the Ricoh sequence), and the Meteosat 9 loop (showing nicely the thin dust clouds drifting eastward).

20080219_1832-1901utc_LaCaleta.mpg  (5.8 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080219_1832-1901utc_LaCaleta.mov  (5.4 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

Sunset from our balcony at the Jardin Caleta Hotel, with La Caleta village in the foreground. My last time-lapse movie, captured at Tenerife...

20080414_1302-1430utc_Radostovice.mpg  (16.3 MB, 1024x736, MPEG1)
20080414_1302-1430utc_Radostovice.mov  (16.9 MB, 1024x736, H.264 / QuickTime)

Reflections ... Shallow convective clouds above a lake at south Bohemia. Taken at Radostovice (distr. Tábor), Czech Republic. 

20080510_1043-1231utc_Hazmburk.mpg  (19.3 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080510_1043-1231utc_Hazmburk.mov  (21.3 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

"Rolling" cumulus clouds above ruins of Hazmburk castle in the České středohoří Mts. (in German Böhmishes Mittelgebirge), district Litoměřice, NW part of the Czech Republic.

20080609_1705-1742utc_Roztyly.mpg  (5.2 MB, 1024x640, MPEG1)
20080609_1705-1742utc_Roztyly.mov  (4.4 MB, 1024x640, H.264 / QuickTime)

Smaller cumulonimbus cloud east of Prague. Captured from anti-noise mound above highway Praha-Brno, close to Roztyly, direction Chodov, Prague, Czech Republic.

20080623_0332-0344utc_Krc.mpg  (3.7 MB, 1024x752, MPEG1)
20080623_0332-0344utc_Krc.mov  (4.4 MB, 1024x752, H.264 / QuickTime)

Outflow boundary of a weak morning thunderstorm. Taken from a window of our flat at Kačerov, towards south (direction Krč). Prague, Czech Republic.

20080623_0834-0944utc_Kacerov.mpg  (17.6 MB, 1024x640, MPEG1)
20080623_0834-0944utc_Kacerov.mov  (20.2 MB, 1024x640, H.264 / QuickTime)

Convective storm travelling eastward across the north parts of Bohemia, and wave clouds at higher levels. Captured from our flat, from a window facing north. In couple of years we will loose this view due to a new administrative center which will be built here, just across the highway. Prague - Kačerov, Czech Republic.

20080625_1530-1700utc_Praha.mpg  (21.0 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080625_1530-1700utc_Praha.mov  (22.7 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

Passage of severe convective storms above Prague. Namely in this case I strongly recommend the MOV file, it is much better than the MPG movie (which suffers too much from compression artifacts). This image (take at 1638 UTC) shows among other a feature resembling a funnel cloud, apparently above the Žižkov TV tower; and this strongly enhanced movie (MOV file only, 3.4 MB, speed 10x) shows several other short-lived features (possibly funnel clouds) in the area. Captured from our flat at Kačerov, Prague, Czech Republic (northward view).

20080725_1430-1450utc_Libus.mpg  (4.7 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080725_1430-1450utc_Libus.mov  (4.1 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / QuickTime)

Smaller cumulonimbus cloud south of Prague. Captured from the former radar tower of CHMI at Praha - Libuš, Czech Republic.

20080726_1648-1745utc_Decinsky-Sneznik.mpg  (11.0 MB, 1024x704, MPEG1)
20080726_1648-1745utc_Decinsky-Sneznik.mov  (11.1 MB, 1024x704, H.264 / QuickTime)
20080726_1648-1745utc_Decinsky-Sneznik.mp4  (15.1 MB, 1024x704, H.264 / MPEG-4)

Showers and crepuscular rays cast by a smaller thunderstorm above Krušné Hory (Erzgebirge), captured from Děčínský Sněžník (723 m), NW Bohemia, Czech Republic. Besides the showers under the storm itself, notice also the cirrus fallout from the storm anvil.

20080830_1005-1048utc_Novomestska-vez.mpg  (13.9 MB, 1024x656, MPEG1)
20080830_1005-1048utc_Novomestska-vez.mov  (13.2 MB, 1024x656, H.264 / QuickTime)

Shallow convective clouds above Prague, with Petřín Hill (left) and the Prague Castle (right). View from the Tower of the New Town Hall in Prague, Czech Republic. Below are my first experiments with HD format:

20080830_1280x720.mp4  (H.264, 11.8 MB)
20080830_1280x720.mov  (H.264, 18.5 MB)

20080830_1920x1080.mp4  (H.264, 11.9 MB)
20080830_1920x1080.mov  (H.264, 55.5 MB)

20080927_0515-0747utc_Gosau.mpg  (23.7 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080927_0515-0747utc_Gosau.mp4  (28.4 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / MPEG-4)

Early morning fog and low clouds above Gosau Valley. Captured from Gosau, view towards Gosaukamm mountains range. Salzkammergut region, Upper Austria.

20080928_1208-1420utc_Dachstein.mpg  (27.5 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080928_1208-1420utc_Dachstein.mp4  (28.3 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / MPEG-4)

Tiny orography clouds forming above of the Dachstein range (2995 m, center of the image) and Gossaukamm range (right), and their shadows cast at the hills above the lake Vorderer Gosausee (933 m), view from Sonnenalm. Salzkammergut region, Upper Austria.

20080929_0704-0745utc_Hallstatt.mpg  (9.6 MB, 1024x672, MPEG1)
20080929_0704-0745utc_Hallstatt.mp4  (11.4 MB, 1024x672, H.264 / MPEG-4)

20080929_1430-1655utc_Dachstein-Gosausee.mpg  (26.5 MB, 1024x768, MPEG1)
20080929_1430-1655utc_Dachstein-Gosausee.mp4  (30.9 MB, 1024x768, H.264 / MPEG-4)

20081005_0800-1005utc_Libus.mp4   (75 MB, 1024x736, H.264 / MPEG-4

Waves of altocumulus clouds above central Bohemia. Captured from my CHMI office window at Praha - Libuš, Czech Republic.

Note: big size of this file originates from the fast moving branches of nearby trees, resulting in poor compression efficiency. Also, it was impossible to create a reasonable MPEG-1 file for this case.

20081011_0548-0732utc_Cachtice.mpg  (29.1 MB, 1024x704, MPEG-1)
20081011_0548-0732utc_Cachtice.mp4  (30.7 MB, 1024x704, H.264 / MPEG-4)

Ruins of the Čachtice Castle, and early morning fog. I have known this beautiful castle at the north part of Small Carpathian Mountains since my childhood - my father comes from a nearby village Bzince pod Javorinou, where I spent almost every summer when I was a kid. District of Nové Mesto nad Váhom, western Slovakia.

20081109_1440-1525utc_HlasnaTreban.mpg  (11.9 MB, 1024x656, MPEG-1)
20081109_1440-1525utc_HlasnaTreban.mp4  (14.9 MB, 1024x656, H.264 / MPEG-4)

Prefrontal wave clouds and air-traffic contrails at sunset. Captured from a hill close to Karlštejn, a famous medieval castle southwest of Prague, Czech Republic.

© 2005 - 2024 Martin Setvak