Anvil clouds and towering thunderheads stood tall over northeastern Brazil.
As the International Space Station traveled towards the terminator, an astronaut shot this oblique photograph of a heavily clouded region near the northeastern coast of Brazil. The angle of the setting Sun accentuates the depth and texture of towering cumulonimbus clouds, which in turn cast long shadows on lower clouds and on the ground.
Known to meteorologists as cumulonimbus incus—anvil clouds—they stand out due to their vertical extent and flattened tops. Caused by extreme atmospheric instability and accompanied by thunderstorms, some anvil clouds have overshooting tops that penetrate the stratosphere.
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Image via NASA Earth Observatory
