Thursday, March 08, 2007

Reflected rainbows near Spitsbergen

On 22nd August 2006 between 20.35-20.50 hrs, while cruising on the Isfjord near Spitsbergen, Nicola Boll watched these wonderful reflected rainbows. The lower bow is an ordinary primary bow. Intersecting it and curving upwards above it is a 'reflection bow'. The bow is formed by sunlight reflected off the smooth waters of the fjord. The upward going reflected rays are, in effect, from a 'virtual sun' the same distance below the horizon as the real sun was above it. Since rainbows are always centred opposite the light source, the centre of the reflected bow is up in the sky and the bow correspondingly high. In the picture enhanced by unsharp masking a reflection bow is also visible curving upwards above and to the right of the secondary rainbow.

4 comments:

Harald Edens said...

Magnificent image, Claudia... thanks for forwarding!

Jari Luomanen said...

Such a gorgeous moment! Absolutely jaw dropping in its beauty.

Jari

Birgit Rudolph/Dirk Krehl said...

Dear Claudia,
I just want to mention that I have "borrowed" your photo for my blog. I hope it is OK, I have back linked to your blog. I was just looking for reflexion rainbows as we had one some days ago looking like a V, unfortuantely nobody took photos...

I hope it is o.K. , you can contact me by mail:
birgit.dirk@gmail.com

Have a nice day and thank you in advance.

It is a beautiful shot of a rainbow!

Birgit Rudolph/Dirk Krehl said...

Sorry, I forgot to mention the link to my blog and the specific posting:

http://insel-rodrigues.blogspot.com/2010/01/nicht-der-erste-in-diesem-jahra-rainbow.html