Source: Why Sunsets Are So Colorful From The Air | Boldmethod
GolfCharlie232
Seeing a sunset or sunrise from the cockpit is a view you’ll never forget. Here’s why they’re so stunning and full of color.
First, A Quick Review Of Sunlight
Sunlight, or visible light, can be thought of as a wave and a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. When the spectrum is split up, you see all the colors as a rainbow.
Each visible color has a different wavelength along the spectrum. Blue light has the shortest wavelength at 300 nanometers. Red light has the longest at 700 nanometers. As visible light passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, small particles in the air can scatter shorter wavelengths more efficiently, like what you see on the left side of the diagram below.
During the day, blue light is the primary wavelength that’s scattered in the atmosphere, and only a portion of the blue light is scattered. But when the sun is low in the sky during sunrise or sunset, all of that changes.
“Scattering” Causes Colorful Sunsets
According to Steve Ackerman, a Meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, “because the sun is low on the horizon, sunlight passes through more air at sunset and sunrise than during the day, when the sun is higher in the sky. More atmosphere means more molecules to scatter the violet and blue light away from your eyes. If the path is long enough, all of the blue and violet light scatters out of your line of sight. The other colors continue on their way to your eyes. This is why sunsets are often yellow, orange, and red.”
Boldmethod
Red has the longest wavelength of any visible light, which is why the sun may appear red when setting directly on the horizon. The light has passed through the most atmosphere possible before reaching your eyes.
GolfCharlie232
Why Are Some Sunsets More Colorful Than Others?
According to National Geographic, you may see more vibrant sunsets based on the seasons. In the east, fall and winter create incredible sunsets because the air tends to be dryer and cleaner for the path of sunlight.
Pollution tends to mute and muddy the colors of sunsets because large particles in the lower atmosphere tend to have that effect. And in general, places with a lot of haze have less dramatic sunsets.
Wikimedia
Why Sunsets Look So Great From The Air
When you’re flying through layers during climb or descent, you’ll find the best sunsets where the sun is clearly visible between multiple layers of clouds.
When sunlight is sandwiched between cloud layers, it bounces off the clouds, further intensifying the sunset. That’s why sunsets often times seem more spectacular from the air.
On top of that, cloud layers can create dramatic shadows on the ground, or on other cloud layers.
Swayne Martin
Where have you seen the best sunsets or sunrises? Tell us in the comments below.
Become a better pilot. Subscribe to the Boldmethod email and get real-world flying tips and information direct to your inbox, every week.
Source: Why Sunsets Are So Colorful From The Air | Boldmethod
Thanks to Boldmethod for sharing…How To Time Your Flare For A Perfect Landing | BoldmethodHow To Time Your Flare For A Perfect Landing. By Colin CutlerBoldmethodHave you ever felt like you can’t figure out when you should flare? You’re either flaring too early and leaving yourself high above the runway, or flaring too late and…
It has been a busy aviation week in Seattle! I attended the Friday (sunny) and Sunday (from grey skies and low cloud to sunny!) Seafair Boeing Air Show which included the new “Amazon One” Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767-300, a new Boeing 737 MAX, US Army and US Coast Guard helicopters, warbirds from the Flying Heritage Collection and […]
It’s pretty much impossible to explain aerodynamics without heavily simplifying it. Aerodynamics is a field for engineers, based on differential equations that don’t have much use in the cockpit.
So, when someone says ground effect is a “cushion of air,” or airflow speeds up across the top of a wing because the “molecules flowing across the top and bottom have to meet up at the trailing edge” – they’re really not hurting anyone, right?
How about this: When you’re flying at or below maneuvering speed, you’ll “stall before you break.” Sound familiar?
When you load up your airplane with passengers, bags, and fuel, you need to make sure you’re within the center of gravity (CG) limits. And you probably know that when you move your CG forward or aft, it affects your airplane’s performance. But how? Let’s take a look.
Since the beginning of flight, pilots have been using the magnetic compass for navigation. It doesn’t matter if you’re flying a Piper Cub or a Boeing 747, you’ll find a magnetic compass in the cockpits of almost any aircraft. That is, unless you’re flying the latest, most technologically advanced glass cockpits, which we’ll cover in a separate article.
So here’s what you need to know about an instrument that’s been in aircraft cockpits for over 110 years, and the errors associated with it.