#ThrowbackThursday to 2011 🙀 when we witnessed a mesmerizing phenomenon called Circumhorizon(tal) Arc or "Fire Rainbow" while hiking near Big Bear in San Bernardino National Forest. It was hard to tear myself away from watching this beautiful display of colors shift and twist and morph... mesmerizing, did I say that already? 😁
Five more: https://www.alex-kunz.com/circumhorizon-arc/
#Clouds #FireRainbow #AtmosphericOptics #CircumhorizonArc #Rainbow #Sky #Throwback #TBT #PhotoBlog
A Fire Rainbow Over New Jersey
What is that inverted rainbow in the sky? Sometimes known as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a #circumhorizon arc is created by ice, not fire. For a circumhorizon arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds are present.
Credit & Copyright: Paul Gitto (Arcturus Observatory)
Colorful Arcs over Buenos Aires
What are those colorful arcs in the sky? Like rainbows that are caused by rain, arcs of sunlight broken up into component colors can also result when ice crystals floating in Earth's atmosphere act together as a gigantic prism. The top color arc is more typical as it is part of the 22 degree halo surrounding the Sun when hexagonal ice crystals refract sunlight between two of the six sides.
A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia
What's happening to this cloud? Ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud are acting like little floating prisms. Known informally as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc appears parallel to the horizon.
Image Credit: Christa Harbig
A rainbow on the horizon
Here is something you may not have seen before. Horizontal rainbows or “fire rainbows” are a rare phenomenon that happen more often closer to the equator than Ireland is.
Here’s one I photographed off Ardmore, in Co Waterford. Nobody noticed it until they saw me with my camera pointed towards it!
https://inphotos.org/2023/07/22/a-rainbow-on-the-horizon/
#photo #photography #Ardmore #Waterford #Ireland #Rainbow #FireRainbow
Alexander S. Kunz
earthling
Donncha Ó Caoimh
Khurram Wadee ✅