Morning Glory Clouds of the Gulf of Carpentaria

Spectacular, rare, and awesomely powerful, the Morning Glory of the Gulf of Carpentaria in Northern Australia is a magnet for growing numbers of soaring pilots and scientists.  Unique in all the world and shrouded in mystery, the Morning Glory arrives regularly each spring.

Satelite image of Morning Glory clouds with associated upper wave system.

Morning Glory Cloud Photos - Near Burketown 1994

Dynamic waves of this type occur unheralded everywhere and at all altitudes, and are the possible cause of much of the clear air turbulence which so disrupts commercial air travel. Those waves, however, are usually invisible, infrequent and currently all but unpredictable.

Morning Glory waves sometimes exceed 1000 km in length and 10,000 feet in height and are associated with the Northern Australian Cloud Line.

This site consists of a collection of articles about soaring the Morning Glory, some technical and some decidedly not. There is a modest collection of images of the wave cloud, including a quite amazing satellite picture. Several articles on Burketown and the Gulf of Carpentaria are included, with historical pieces on Sweers Island and the Investigator Tree, and there is a smattering of information about Far North Queensland with various Gulf locations such as Undara Lava Tubes and Lawn Hill Gorge. The fauna and flora information would not be complete without mention of the ubiquitous canetoad.