The Most Glorious Sunset I have ever seen in my life
After a sandstorm in Abu Dhabi, an Intensely Red Sunset from the Corniche was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen!
In 2005, I was working in Abu Dhabi as a senior Contract Manager and was living in a flat above the famous El Dorado Cinema along Electra Street. If my memory serves me right I was staying at the 8th floor. El Dorado Cinema was a famous and prosperous landmark in Abu Dhabi and especially along Electra Street was well passed its heyday and was showing only Malayalam and Tamil movies.
A 15 minutes walk to the Corniche
From El Doroda Cinema, it would have been a 15 minutes walk to the Corniche — the famous waterfront of Abu Dhabi facing the Arabian Sea.
I used to take the 15 minutes walk with my Indian landlord to start our walk/jog along the Corniche.
One day, the atmosphere had a heavy haze as a sandstorm was blowing somewhere in the desert far away from Abu Dhabi. I couldn’t see where the sandstorm was taking place, but I could see the heavy orangey haze that was the aftermath which hung in the air long after all around the city.
It was so hazy that I almost didn’t want to go out that day, let alone walk the 15 minutes to the Corniche.
My landlord urged me to accompany him to the Corniche as he hates being alone going to the Corniche.
On Corniche I saw the most glorious sunset ever
The sandstorm brought with it the most gloriously beautiful sunset I had ever seen in my life!
My Landlord (who was a Chartered Civil Engineer from India) explained to me that the sun’s reddish rays cuts through the atmospheric haze easily while the shorter wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum of our visible lights couldn’t — that left the red/orangey colours beaming through in the sunset.
The intensely rich colours seen after a sandstorm
Many people don’t realize this, but desert sand contain many very fine particles of silt which lingers and floats in the atmosphere long after a sand storm is over. In Abu Dhabi, after the perennial sand storm, these fine particles cause the longer frequency sunlight to be refracted back to earth long after the sand storm is over. These fine particles remain floating in the air for hours.
A major factor limiting the visibility of distant targets is veiling attributed to atmospheric scattering, known commonly as haze. It has been suggested that yellow filters (in this case, the macular pigments, MPs) could selectively absorb this haze, thus extending visual range. This study is an empirical test of the visibility hypothesis.
Longer wavelengths (orangey or reddish colours) tend to penetrate atmospheric haze better than shorter wavelengths (bluish colours) due to their physical properties and interactions with matter. Here are a few reasons why longer wavelengths are capable of better penetration:
1. Wave-Particle Interactions: Electromagnetic waves, including light, exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties. When longer wavelength waves interact with matter, they tend to have lower energy and lower frequencies. This lower energy allows them to travel through substances with less absorption and scattering. On the other hand, shorter wavelengths (higher energy) are more likely to interact with particles in the material, leading to absorption or scattering, which reduces their penetration depth.
2. Absorption and Scattering: Different materials have specific absorption and scattering properties for electromagnetic waves of different wavelengths. Some materials may absorb or scatter shorter wavelengths more efficiently, causing them to lose energy and be absorbed or redirected before they can penetrate deeper. Longer wavelengths, being lower in energy, are less likely to be absorbed or scattered by many substances, allowing them to propagate further.
3. Size and Obstacles: The size of obstacles or openings in a material relative to the wavelength can affect penetration. If the size of the obstacles is comparable to or smaller than the wavelength, the waves are more likely to be scattered or absorbed by them. Longer wavelengths have larger spatial extents, allowing them to bypass smaller obstacles or openings, thus penetrating more effectively.
4. Wave Interference: Waves can interfere constructively or destructively depending on their relative phases. In some cases, longer wavelengths may experience constructive interference, which reinforces their propagation through a material. This can enhance their ability to penetrate compared to shorter wavelengths.
It’s important to note that the penetration depth of electromagnetic waves depends on various factors, including the properties of the material, the specific wavelength range, and the interaction mechanisms involved. Different materials and situations can exhibit different penetration characteristics, and these explanations provide a general understanding of why longer wavelengths tend to penetrate better.
These photos cannot do justice to being there yourself
When you actually there yourself, and seeing the real vibrancy and the richness of the colours before you beats seeing any picture anytime. A photograph can have a contract range of 1:50 whereas a slide could extend into 1:2000 range.
The important lesson to take away from all this is — don’t be put off initially because of the heavy haze or gloomy weather — if I had decided not to venture out to the Corniche to walk, I would never had seen such gloriously beautiful sunsets myself, which frankly speaking, was a life-changing experience. As they have said: “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
My name is Keith Scott [I can be reached at kiethscott777@gmail.com]
[The spelling in email address “i before e” is deliberate].
