The Green Flash
Not my Pic, but a rare and hard to photograph effect, that is very hard to spot, they only happen when conditions are just right, I spent years out on that great big ocean in the Navy, and for several years have live near or by the Ocean, I have seen the green flash 3 times, once from the flight deck in the Atlantic Ocean in a previous life, and 2 times here on the shore of the Pacific.
Here's an explanation:
A green flash is a phenomenon in which part of the sun appears to suddenly change color for about 1 or 2 seconds. The brief flash of green light is seen more often at sunset than at sunrise.
This fleeting spectacle is caused by the refraction of sunlight, which is particularly significant at sunset and sunrise when the light travels through more of the Earth's atmosphere. The atmosphere bends the sunlight passing through it, separating the light into its different colors, much like a prism bends and splits sunlight into rainbows. There are four categories of green flashes: inferior mirage, mock mirage, subduct flash, and green ray, according to an [article published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science]. (
) (AAAS). Nearly all green-flash sightings fall into the first two categories.
Inferior mirage flashes are oval and flat and occur close to sea level when the surface of the water is warmer than the air above it. [
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Mock mirage flashes, on the other hand, occur higher up in the sky and when conditions on the surface are colder than the air above. The flashes appear to be thin, pointy strips being sliced from the sun, and they last about 1 to 2 seconds, which is what I believe this one was.