Circumzenithal Arc and Contrail
by Judy Kennedy
Title
Circumzenithal Arc and Contrail
Artist
Judy Kennedy
Medium
Photograph - Digital Art Photography
Description
Most simply, a circumzenithal arc is an upside-down rainbow in the sky which requires specific atmospheric conditions to appear. When the sun shines through horizontal ice crystals at a certain angle that goes through the top and exits through the side, these arcs appear. They’re actually more common than one would think because more often than not, they’re obscured by clouds. Cirrus clouds are where they’re born, and those clouds are among the highest with an abundance of ice crystals. The observer must also be in the right position to see these arcs because visibility can vary greatly over short distances. Circumzenithal arcs are always accompanied by sun dogs though you may not see them. Sun dogs are another halo phenomena caused by the sun’s rays refracting through ice crystals. They look like small, incomplete segments of rainbows and appear on both sides of the sun at the same time. Often you may see only one, but that’s usually because the one on the other side is obscured by clouds or something. On December 2, 2019, I was blessed to be in the right place at the right time because I saw for the first time not only both sun dogs, but this circumzenithal arc overhead! I included a little bit of the foliage in the desert wash where I was standing in this shot in order to emphasize that this was the real thing, and not some manipulated photograph of a rainbow. In fact, I’m making a video about this exciting experience that will be posted on my YouTube channel - YouTube.com/waywardmuse:
https://preview.tinyurl.com/wuw2rq9 Stay tuned for more!
Uploaded
March 4th, 2020
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