Sea Waves In The Sky!

Sea Levels haven't risen, these are a special class of cloud formations call a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability.

Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds resemble breaking waves in the ocean. They are usually the most developed near mountains or large hills. Wind deflected up and over a barrier, like a mountain, continues flowing through the air in a wavelike pattern. Complex evaporation and condensation patterns create the capped tops and cloudless troughs of the waves.

A Kelvin–Helmholtz instability can occur when velocity shear is present within a continuous flow or, when there is sufficient velocity difference across the interface between two flow. One example is a wind blowing over a water surface, where the wind causes the relative motion between the stratified layers (i.e. water and air.) The instability will manifest itself in the form of water waves being generated on the water surface. The theory can be used to predict the onset of instability and transition to turbulent flow in water and in air of different densities moving at various speeds. Hermann von Helmholtz studied the dynamics of two fluids of different densities when a small disturbance such as a wave is introduced at the boundary connecting the flows.

Kelvin-Helmholz Clouds Gallery

over Sossuvlei National Park, Namibia	McLeans Ridges, NSW, Australia

Also see:  Planetary Boundary Layer: Turbulence