Thursday, March 02, 2017

The Views Were Glorious, But There Was Also An Actual "Glory"


From Weather Online:
"The Brocken spectre (or Brocken bow) is an apparently greatly magnified shadow of an observer cast against mist or cloud below the level of a summit or ridge and surrounded by rainbow coloured fringes resulting from the diffraction of light. The effect is an illusion. Depth perception is altered by the mist, causing the shadow to appear more distant and to be interpreted as larger than normally expected. 
Actually the Brocken Spectre is what meteorologists call a glory. Most air travellers have already observed glories. They are most easily seen when one is riding on the shadow side of an aircraft above the clouds."



When I studied in Göttingen, the Harz Mountains were nearby, so I like the name Brocken bow.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185941/Rare-phenomenon-gives-airplane-heavenly-glow.html#ixzz4aEMQmKKV
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But then we flew over the mountains to Anchorage.  Below is a picture of Flattop, from behind, at least relative to how most people see Flattop, from Anchorage.  It's the nub on the left end of the lower loaf of snowy mountain.  Denali and Foraker are in the background.  A chunk of Anchorage is in between.



Clicking on any of these images will enlarge and focus it






Then we were over the Inlet.  I thought these branches looked a bit like monsters creeping up to attack Anchorage in the background.













There was a very low tide uncovering the mudflats in the middle of the Inlet and down Turnagain Arm.  Below is another view down Turnagain Arm.  Almost no water (some was in the rivers in the mudflats).  Mostly frozen mud.




I wasn't really going to add these photos to yesterday's views, but my battery wouldn't start and after my neighbor helped me start it, I needed to drive a bit to recharge it.  So I went a ways down Turnagain Arm and got these views of the frozen mudflats from the ground.  (And I'd forgotten about the glory which seemed worth a post all by itself.)





Note:  I tweaked the exposure, saturation, and contrast in some of these images.

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