Interacting “Morning Glories” over Northern Australia

Abstract

It is just over 15 years since the first major expedition was organized to investigate the ?morning glory? phenomenon of north-eastern Australia. The authors review briefly what has been learned about the generation and evolution of morning glory disturbances during this time and present data for a particularly interesting event that occurred on 3 October 1991, a day on which two morning glory wave formations, one from the northeast and one from the south, were detected. The morning glories were seen to interact over the Gulf of Carpentaria. Spectacular National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer satellite imagery together with comparatively good surface data are presented for this event. Aspects of the interaction between the north-eastern and southerly morning glories are shown to be consistent with theoretical predictions concerning solitary were interactions.