Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Cloud iridescence or irisation is a colorful optical phenomenon that occurs in a cloud and appears in the general proximity of the Sun or Moon. The colors resemble those seen in soap bubbles and oil on a water surface.
The misleading term "fire rainbow" is sometimes used to describe this phenomenon, although it is neither a rainbow, nor related in any way to fire. The term, apparently coined in 2006, [ 3 ] may originate in the occasional appearance of the arc as "flames" in the sky, when it occurs in fragmentary cirrus clouds.
The circumzenithal arc, also called the circumzenith arc (CZA), the upside-down rainbow, and the Bravais arc, [1] is an optical phenomenon similar in appearance to a rainbow, but belonging to the family of halos arising from refraction of sunlight through ice crystals, generally in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds, rather than from raindrops.
The clouds are formed of tiny ice crystals which create the colours as light shines through them.
The ice crystals responsible for halos are typically suspended in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds in the upper troposphere (5–10 km (3.1–6.2 mi)), but in cold weather they can also float near the ground, in which case they are referred to as diamond dust. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals are responsible for the type of ...
Nacreous clouds are rarely spotted in the UK because of the exceptional conditions needed.
The most spectacular rainbow displays happen when half the sky is still dark with raining clouds and the observer is at a spot with clear sky in the direction of the Sun. The result is a luminous rainbow that contrasts with the darkened background.
The colorful phenomenon was shared by dozens online.