Cloud iridescence
Optical phenomenon
- 2 min read
- 2 chapters
Related on Lably
The colours are usually pastel, but can be very vivid or mingled together, sometimes similar to mother-of-pearl. When appearing near the Sun, the effect can be difficult to spot as it is drowned in the Sun's glare. This may be overcome by shielding the sunlight with one's hand or hiding it behind a tree or building. Other aids are dark glasses, or observing the sky reflected in a convex mirror or in a pool of water.
Etymology
Irisations are named after the Greek goddess Iris, goddess of rainbows and messenger of Zeus and Hera to the mortals below.
Sign in to keep reading
One more chapter is free with a Lably account.
Mechanism
Iridescent clouds are a diffraction phenomenon caused by small water droplets or small ice crystals individually scattering light. Larger ice crystals do not produce iridescence, but can cause halos, a different phenomenon instead caused by refraction.
Irisation is caused by very uniform water droplets diffracting light (within 10 degrees from the Sun) and by first order interference effects (beyond about 10 degrees from the Sun). It can extend up to 40 degrees from the Sun.
If parts of clouds contain small water droplets or ice crystals of similar size, their cumulative effect is seen as colours. The cloud must be optically thin, so that most rays encounter only a single droplet. Iridescence is therefore mostly seen at cloud edges or in semi-transparent clouds, while newly forming clouds produce the brightest and most colourful iridescence. When the particles in a thin cloud are very similar in size over a large extent, the iridescence takes on the structured form of a corona, a bright circular disk around the Sun or Moon surrounded by one or more coloured rings.