The morning glory is a
huge, horizontal, rotating, ribbon-like
cloud that rolls through the sky like a
wave. It regularly appears only over the southern
Gulf of Carpentaria, and is visible only to residents of northern
Queensland near the remote community of Burketown. Although the morning glory appears at all times of the
year it is extremely frequent during the Australian
spring months (September, October, and November).
The morning glory forms over Cape York and rapidly advances to the southwest. The gigantic clouds usually fill the whole sky, from horizon to horizon. In the past decade, studies of the morning glory have shown that it often exceeds 1000 km in length. The ominous clouds rarely bring precipitation, although they are almost always accompanied by enormous gusts of wind on the surface. At times, multiple morning glories roll over the landscape in quick succession.
Large amplitude solitary waves like the morning glory exist all over the world, and cause much of the turbulence that interferes with commercial air travel. Unlike the morning glory, these waves are invisible and infrequent. The morning glory is not only highly visible, it is predictable, vast, and carries more energy than several atomic detonations. Although the morning glory is not yet fully understood, research has shown a connection with lunar declinational tides, which allows gliders to predict when the phenomenon is about to occur.
Did I mention gliders? On October 13, 1989, Robert Thompson and Russell White pioneered the recreational activity of "soaring" on morning glories. Motorized glider pilots navigate to the morning glory and align their aircraft with the axis. Then, they cut the engines and let the glory handle the rest. This extremely dangerous sport allows experienced gliders to reach speeds comparable with gliding world records. A small cult of Australian gilder pilots have fallen in love with surfing these tidal waves of the sky, and as far as I know, they haven't had any accidents yet.
The Gulf of Carpentaria is blessed to have such an unique atmospheric event occur so often, and the immense scientific and recreational interest in the phenomenon is growing year by year.