Anyone with knowledge of Rainbows?

[Joel's Hear]

Well, my kids saw this crazily bright rainbow the other day. Knowing how much I like them, they told me about it and I got a video.

I don't understand what type it is: it itself is very bright, and has an inverted rainbow coming from underneath, which also has an invert. There is also a really dim but thicker one coming out of the top of that fir tree. It's hard to see.

I could Google this all day but the scintillating lights of different page load-ups and the general hassle of looking around for something can quickly overstimulate my nerves.

Any ideas? I labeled it a triple rainbow but it could be a double rainbow with double inverts on the original. I ain't no scientist, and am three chemistry classes short of a biology degree so what do I know?

 

[FreeDiver]

Here is the aspie way of saying it. I will speak literally and not figuratively.

What is happening is that white light from the sun, that has all the wavelengths of light mix together is then separated into each of it's individual wavelengths of light by raindrops acting like thousands of little prisms.

 

[Joel's Hear]

Here is the aspie way of saying it. I will speak literally and not figuratively.

What is happening is that white light from the sun, that has all the wavelengths of light mix together is then separated into each of it's individual wavelengths of light by raindrops acting like thousands of little prisms.

Exactly! But what causes the inversions? Or the reciprocating-but-dimmer arc above the tree? I've been wondering what makes rainbows different. There are certainly a lot of variables.

 

[Fino]

Different angles of light? Different sizes of raindrops? Different intensitys of light? I don't know, just guessing.

 

[Joel's Hear]

Different angles of light? Different sizes of raindrops? Different intensitys of light? I don't know, just guessing.

Good a guess as anybody's.

 

[Schism]

It's all about refraction of the sun's rays on water droplets in the atmosphere. So, the intense colour prism is refracted light due to a heavy rainfall behind the rainbow (the sun's rays are hitting the rain from your viewpoint). The lesser variation because of lighter rainfall. Or something like that.

I have actually seen two rainbows crossing each other, like bridge archs due to topography, weather & location.

Link. How Is a Rainbow Formed?

 

[Streetwise]

Well, my kids saw this crazily bright rainbow the other day. Knowing how much I like them, they told me about it and I got a video.

I don't understand what type it is: it itself is very bright, and has an inverted rainbow coming from underneath, which also has an invert. There is also a really dim but thicker one coming out of the top of that fir tree. It's hard to see.

I could Google this all day but the scintillating lights of different page load-ups and the general hassle of looking around for something can quickly overstimulate my nerves.

Any ideas? I labeled it a triple rainbow but it could be a double rainbow with double inverts on the original. I ain't no scientist, and am three chemistry classes short of a biology degree so what do I know?

it probably also depends on how hot it was before it rained !and how much it rained ,is there still a lot of water in the sky, that's why you'll see the rainbows being very bright, the point is because the climate has change the amount of water in the sky has changed ,the water used to be in icebergs but the icebergs have melted, the world is heating up, I think by 1 degree the more there is the more rainbows there are , when the climate becomes desert ! At the moment it's desertification ,which means becoming desert like , you will see rainbows like this, you will see a lot in Australia because they got a lot of sudden rain then as it dries out less so

 

[Joel's Hear]

it probably also depends on how hot it was before it rained !and how much it rained ,is there still a lot of water in the sky, that's why you'll see the rainbows being very bright, the point is because the climate has change the amount of water in the sky has changed ,the water used to be in icebergs but the icebergs have melted, the world is heating up, I think by 1 degree the more there is the more rainbows there are , when the climate becomes desert ! At the moment it's desertification ,which means becoming desert like , you will see rainbows like this, you will see a lot in Australia because they got a lot of sudden rain then as it dries out less so

that is a good point streetwise, about the heat. it was a very windy day that day, and had been for days before. i bet there are cool rainbows in australia where the desert meets the mountains. because of differing heat levels in air currents?

 

[Schism]

Nothing to do with heat. Rain & a break in cloud formation to allow the sun's rays through, that's all. Heat & desert forms shimmer mirages usually, not rainbows. Rainbows need rain.

 

[Joel's Hear]

This is a cool video, too. It is of a circumzenithal arc, which is basically a smiling rainbow in the sky (though it considered a type of halo rather than rainbow). For some reason, this one appeared on a sunny day. These are quite commonplace compared to double, triple, or inverted rainbows. Most people don't see them because they are directly above. We don't like to strain our necks, I guess, looking so high...

 

[Schism]

Circumzenithal. .hmm. One of those tricksy words my brain & tongue have trouble articulating!

 

[Joel's Hear]

Circumzenithal. .hmm. One of those tricksy words my brain & tongue have trouble articulating!

I agree!! Another one is avtosingendrothika. That's a Greek word I learned for a song I was singing, "Mia Vradia Sto Louki". 17 letters.

 

[Streetwise]

that is a good point streetwise, about the heat. it was a very windy day that day, and had been for days before. i bet there are cool rainbows in australia where the desert meets the mountains. because of differing heat levels in air currents?

It's also the landscape as well, if you get a rainforest it holds it in, where you get the mountains dependent on how high the mountain is, again the heat from another area drying out the rain it's a mixture.

 

[Schism]

Bloody heck !! Danger of going off topic now so may get told off...

I am still trying to phrase Circumzenithal...but it keeps coming out as Circum-zenthIAL Ok, going to settle with 'overhead rainbows'! Cool video.

 

[Joel's Hear]

@Thinx - Wonderful idea, the optimistic emojis...!

 

[Joel's Hear]

Bloody heck !! Danger of going off topic now so may get told off...

I am still trying to phrase Circumzenithal...but it keeps coming out as Circum-zenthIAL Ok, going to settle with 'overhead rainbows'! Cool video.

Don't worry. My threads will always go off topic at some point. It's a fact.

 

[Streetwise]

Don't worry. My threads will always go off topic at some point. It's a fact.

That's why I never bother I've never stayed on a topic

 

[Major Tom]

I'm no rainbow expert, but I have seen plenty of rainbows like this many times. Now that I look at it more closely the triple is visible on the top right of the photo. It happens over the mountains quite often like this one. I see it at least once a year in the same place. The full image is below the video, which reminded me of this song.

 

[Major Tom]

 

[SusanLR]

This is a cool rainbow that looks like it has different brightness of zones in the sky between them.
Looks like a gateway you could go through.
It is a full arc with a lighter second rainbow above it. Just couldn't get it all in the photo.
Took this from my driveway close to dusk.
@Major Tom it is similiar to yours only not nearly as colorful!