I received a complaint that my posts have been featuring too
much brown and gray. Well, that tends to
happen during the winter. Fortunately,
winter is a prime time for a wonderful atmospheric event that quickly turns a
dreary day into a colorful diorama.
Most people are familiar with the fact that sunlight is made
up of a broad pallet of colors, as demonstrated by passing light through a
prism to reveal individual bands of color from red to violet. As sunlight comes streaming through the
atmosphere, it collides with air molecules and certain colors are deflected from
the light stream. This process is known
as scattering and the scattered colors become visible. Colors at the violet/blue end of the spectrum
are most easily deflected and are broken out for us to see. That’s what produces the blue sky. Evening sunlight cuts diagonally through the
atmosphere, so the light must travel a longer path. By the time it reaches us, the violet and blue
have already been removed from the beam to create a blue sky somewhere out west
and we see the remaining colors from the red end of the spectrum.
The scattering effect occurs each evening, but to get the
best display, you need a platform upon which the show can be displayed. That role is assigned to clouds that pick up
the red and orange colors and present them for us to see.
Best condition for viewing occurs when clouds cover the sky,
but don’t reach the western horizon. The
low angle of the sun allows the light to pass through the greatest distance of
air and then hit the under sides of the clouds.
The back side of a storm front usually produces the best
display, because there is usually a sharp delineation between the moisture
laden clouds and the dry air pushing them along.
Naked winter trees backlit by the evening sky put the
colorful display to best use.
Blue Jay Barrens has been in the path of a series of
clippers moving through out of Canada.
Several have passed through just at dusk and have left wonderful
conditions for beautifully colored skies.
The timing isn’t always perfect. Most of the storms have been in a hurry and
sometimes drift away without putting on a show.
These sunsets have no bearing on the biological functions at Blue Jay
Barrens, but they do a wonderful job of entertaining me.
Well, you certainly found some colour for that post!
ReplyDeleteHi, Furry Gnome. Occasionally I respond favorably to requests.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Steve! See - that's why I would prefer to be covered in layers of snow in the winter. I actually appreciate the 'tween' stages of browns, it makes for interesting perspectives, but it does tend to get dull. Hope all is well, I haven't said hi in forever!
ReplyDeleteHi, Renee. Each season has its good and bad points and I enjoy them all. Before I get tired of one, we've moved on into the next. I visit your blog regularly and enjoy the tours of Maine. I've tried to comment, but I don't seem to be in a group that is allowed to leave messages.
ReplyDelete