A big ridge in the jet stream is transporting western wildfire smoke our way next couple of days. Most of the smoke is in the upper atmosphere and won't dramatically impact air quality, but the sky may look a little milky and the sunrise and sunset may be enhanced.But why the red/orange?
As we cut-n-paste from another TV station: "The smoke filters out shorter wavelengths of light, leaving mostly red and orange wavelengths to shine through and be seen by the naked human eye."
6 comments:
Thanks for the explanation. The sunrise was definitely hazy this morning and Tompkins had a weird cast to it.
EV Science!
In addition to the filtering effects of the smoke the more accurate explanation is that the oblique angle of the sun to the atmosphere at sunrise and sunset cause the blue end of the spectrum to literally bounce off the atmosphere into space and only the red end of the spectrum comes through, which is why sunrise and sunset are warmer in color than the rest of the day when the full spectrum of white light is prevelant.
You can actually smell the smoke in the air from the forest fires burning all the way west in Oregon. Incredible.
A refreshing scene. For a second I thought it was another rooftop woohoo.
Incredible indeed
Makes me think of how every single one of those thousand mature oxygen producing, wind-breaking, flood water and carbon absorbing, shading trees (all soon to be destroyed) at East River Park is precious.
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