page_title: Ship tracks
hierarchical_section_title: Ship tracks
caption_attribution_description: Satellite image of w:ship tracks, clouds created by the exhaust of ship smokestacks.
context_page_description: Ship tracks are clouds that form around the exhaust released by ships into the still ocean air. Water molecules collect around the tiny particles from exhaust to form a cloud seed. More and more water accumulates on the seed until a visible cloud is formed. In the case of ship tracks, the cloud seeds are stretched over a long narrow path where the wind has blown the ship's exhaust, so the resulting clouds resemble long strings over the ocean. Ship tracks are a type of homogenitus cloud.
context_section_description: Ship tracks are clouds that form around the exhaust released by ships into the still ocean air. Water molecules collect around the tiny particles (aerosols) from exhaust to form a cloud seed. More and more water accumulates on the seed until a visible cloud is formed. In the case of ship tracks, the cloud seeds are stretched over a long narrow path where the wind has blown the ship's exhaust, so the resulting clouds resemble long strings over the ocean. Ship tracks are a type of homogenitus cloud.
caption: Ship tracks can be seen as lines in these clouds over the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. May 11, 2005
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