My Account
This category is about wave soaring.
Leewaves (mountain waves) are atmospheric internal gravity waves and were discovered 1933 by German glider pilots above the Riesengebirge. Wind driven air parcels hitting a mountainlike obstacle are being deflected upwards and will, in a stably stratified atmosphere, return to their initial height setting up an oscillatory up-down motion. Such a wave system, which often exhibits typical phenomena as interference and wave breaking, is frequently made visible by stationary, lense shaped clouds, socalled lenicularis (text by mountainwave project).