Natural Wonders: Fogbows – Explorersweb »

Photo: Jo Crebbin/Shutterstock In the rainbow family, the fogbow is an outcast. Unlike their more vibrant and colorful cousin, they are mostly white and quite eerie-looking. Sailors call fogbows ‘white rainbows’, ‘ghost rainbows’, or ‘sea-dogs’. A fogbow in the Ceahlau Mountains in Romania. Photo: Miresan Ciprian/Shutterstock Where can you spot a fogbow? Fogbows are a common arctic phenomenon but are also seen in mountainous areas. They form where fog is beginning to develop, and the sun is at a particular angle. The best time to see them is early morning or the late evening — in other words, when the sun is low. Observers have also seen them from ships and planes. Physicist Les Cowley says that the observer must be facing away from the sun at an angle of 35-40°, and the sun must be at less than a 40° angle if you’re on the ground. Contrary to common belief, fogbows are not halos. Halos form when light reflects and refracts off ice crystals. Rainbows and fogbows act differently. How fogbows form The name fogbow is self-explanatory. They occur around fog or mist. Like rainbows, fogbows form when sunlight interacts with water droplets. The light diffracts through the droplets,…
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