Hacker News Reader

Islands leave distinctive cloud formations in their wake, sometimes stretching many hundreds of miles. Here's an example from satellite photography: http://m.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?i...

A popular theory is that Polynesian navigators would hone in on these cloud patterns in the sky, treating them as the big arrows in the sky pointing to land that they essentially are.

View on HN

Another navigation aid was birds. They knew the maximum flight time of certain types of bird, and therefore if you saw that species, you would know you were within a certain radius of land.

"Islands leave distinctive cloud formations in their wake"

Only islands with high peaks, which means most likely, volcanic islands. Which happens to be true for large islands in the pacific. As opposed to purely coral islands which rise just above the sea level.

The volcanic islands tend to form pearl-chains... one making a law from the faultlines, can follow that line

Very true. However, flat, forested islands can reflect a greenish color onto whatever clouds might be above them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com