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This process of reflection/absorption is what causes the range of cloud color from white to black. [19] Other colors occur naturally in clouds. Bluish-grey is the result of light scattering within the cloud. In the visible spectrum, blue and green are at the short end of light's visible wavelengths, while red and yellow are at the long end. [20]
Here, the path of sunlight through the atmosphere is elongated such that much of the blue or green light is scattered away from the line of perceivable visible light. This phenomenon leaves the Sun's rays, and the clouds they illuminate, abundantly orange-to-red in colors, which one sees when looking at a sunset or sunrise.
Not only do polarization patterns remain consistent as the sun moves across the sky, but also as the moon moves across the sky at night. The Moon creates the same polarization pattern. Thus it is possible to use the polarization patterns as a tool for navigation at night. The only difference is that the degree of polarization is not quite as ...
Rayleigh scattering of sunlight in Earth's atmosphere causes diffuse sky radiation, which is the reason for the blue color of the daytime and twilight sky, as well as the yellowish to reddish hue of the low Sun. Sunlight is also subject to Raman scattering, which changes the rotational state of the molecules and gives rise to polarization ...
Clouds have both cooling and warming effects. They have a cooling effect insofar as they reflect sunlight (as measured by cloud albedo), and a warming effect, insofar as they absorb longwave radiation. For low clouds, the reflection of solar radiation is the larger effect; so, these clouds cool the Earth.
Crepuscular rays usually appear orange because the path through the atmosphere at dawn and dusk passes through up to 40 times as much air as rays from a high Sun at noon. Particles in the air scatter short- wavelength light (blue and green) through Rayleigh scattering much more strongly than longer-wavelength yellow and red light.
Diagram showing displacement of the Sun's image at sunrise and sunset Comparison of inferior and superior mirages due to differing air refractive indices, n. Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light or other electromagnetic wave from a straight line as it passes through the atmosphere due to the variation in air density as a function of height. [1]
Noctilucent clouds are generally colourless or pale blue, [50] although occasionally other colours including red and green have been observed. [51] The characteristic blue colour comes from absorption by ozone in the path of the sunlight illuminating the noctilucent cloud. [52]