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Aleutian Clouds Bering Sea

Clouds hover over the waters off the western Aleutian Islands, where fog, heavy rains, and high winds are common. While the clouds in this 2000 Landsat 7 image are structured differently, all the clouds shown are low, marine stratocumulus clouds, which often produce drizzle. The color variations are probably due to differences in the temperature and in the size of the water droplets that make up the clouds. The Aleutian Islands are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The archipelago curves out 1,800 kilometers from southwestern Alaska towards Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. 4