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Walking with the dogs and a chum of mine yesterday morning, we were chattering about various natural phenomena such as peculiar cloud formations and the Northern Lights, etc.
He asked me whether in all my journeying around the world I had ever seen the fabled Green Flash. I was able to say that I had once seen it at sunset from the deck of a ship, though I now forget where we were at the time.
Until I saw it for myself, I always considered that the Green Flash was some story concocted by old sea-dogs to wind up landlubbers such as myself. I thought it most likely to be in the same league as being asked where the ship’s Golden Rivet was; when the unsuspecting victim of this unlikely tale wanders round asking other members of the crew where it is, it quickly dawns on him that he is the subject of a practical joke.
The Green Flash is caused by a momentary refraction of light in the atmosphere and most likely to be seen in clear air, when more of the light from the setting sun reaches the observer without being scattered. According to Mike Dworetsky of University College London the Green Flash is, ‘an astronomical, or rather, an atmospheric, event. When conditions are right, at the last moment of the setting sun, its upper edge or limb blazes with an emerald green color for a few seconds before disappearing below the horizon. Few people have seen the green flash, yet it is one of the most startling and colourful of sunset or sunrise phenomena, requiring patience and good luck to be seen.’
It is certainly true that many of my old seagoing chums have never seen the Green Flash. This is not surprising when you learn that it lasts just for a second or two; blink and you might miss it though the chap standing next to you may have seen it.
The Green Flash features in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies to signify that someone has escaped from the Land of the Dead. Well, why not? It’s as good an explanation as any other.
.
Walking with the dogs and a chum of mine yesterday morning, we were chattering about various natural phenomena such as peculiar cloud formations and the Northern Lights, etc.
He asked me whether in all my journeying around the world I had ever seen the fabled Green Flash. I was able to say that I had once seen it at sunset from the deck of a ship, though I now forget where we were at the time.
Until I saw it for myself, I always considered that the Green Flash was some story concocted by old sea-dogs to wind up landlubbers such as myself. I thought it most likely to be in the same league as being asked where the ship’s Golden Rivet was; when the unsuspecting victim of this unlikely tale wanders round asking other members of the crew where it is, it quickly dawns on him that he is the subject of a practical joke.
The Green Flash is caused by a momentary refraction of light in the atmosphere and most likely to be seen in clear air, when more of the light from the setting sun reaches the observer without being scattered. According to Mike Dworetsky of University College London the Green Flash is, ‘an astronomical, or rather, an atmospheric, event. When conditions are right, at the last moment of the setting sun, its upper edge or limb blazes with an emerald green color for a few seconds before disappearing below the horizon. Few people have seen the green flash, yet it is one of the most startling and colourful of sunset or sunrise phenomena, requiring patience and good luck to be seen.’
It is certainly true that many of my old seagoing chums have never seen the Green Flash. This is not surprising when you learn that it lasts just for a second or two; blink and you might miss it though the chap standing next to you may have seen it.
The Green Flash features in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies to signify that someone has escaped from the Land of the Dead. Well, why not? It’s as good an explanation as any other.
.
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