Strange Sunrise
On Monday morning, July 26th, John Stetson woke up early to watch the sunrise over Casco Bay in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He expected a pretty view. What he got was pretty strange.
"The island appeared to be floating above the water," Stetson reports. "And the sun was as flat as a pancake!"
Atmospheric optics expert explains what happened: "Overnight the air above the ocean was abnormally cooled producing a temperature inversion, cool air below warmer. At sunrise the almost horizontal sun’s rays were bent (refracted) as they passed between the different temperature layers to give us a mock mirage. The island was also miraged. The sea was not really choppy, that is the uneven edge of the mirage."
"At sunset the ocean sometimes produces a warmer air above it to give another type of mirage – an Etruscan vase," he adds. "Watch sunrise and sunset for magical effects!"
more images: from Lyle Anderson of Duluth, MN
Copyright: arcticle: Spaceweather.com
Original article from: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=07&year=2010
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On Monday morning, July 26th, John Stetson woke up early to watch the sunrise over Casco Bay in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He expected a pretty view. What he got was pretty strange.
"The island appeared to be floating above the water," Stetson reports. "And the sun was as flat as a pancake!"
Atmospheric optics expert explains what happened: "Overnight the air above the ocean was abnormally cooled producing a temperature inversion, cool air below warmer. At sunrise the almost horizontal sun’s rays were bent (refracted) as they passed between the different temperature layers to give us a mock mirage. The island was also miraged. The sea was not really choppy, that is the uneven edge of the mirage."
"At sunset the ocean sometimes produces a warmer air above it to give another type of mirage – an Etruscan vase," he adds. "Watch sunrise and sunset for magical effects!"
more images: from Lyle Anderson of Duluth, MN
Copyright: arcticle: Spaceweather.com
Original article from: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=07&year=2010
Forward this news message:
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