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Green Flash Answer
Thu Jul 01, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I’m Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. We got lots of answers to our Green
Flash Brainstorm, including many from folks who have actually seen it! Here’s what
you had to say:
BB: This is Buddy Barwick in Minden, La. Just as the sun gets below the horizon, it
gets a green flash. Least that’s how I remember it from a long time ago.
MS: This is Marty Sladen. I believe that the green flash has to do with the wavelength of
light as it disappears over the island. I heard this on The Weather Notebook on WFIU,
Bloomington, Ind.
GM: My name is Gordon Middleton. We observed it on multiple occasions when we
were on Smile Island out on the Indian Ocean.
Here’s Mickey Lavy of Waco, Texas:
ML: The answer is that at sea when the sun rises on a clear morning the atmosphere
acts as a prism and breaks down the white light. You can also see that from a
mountain top on a clear day.
MP: My name is Monique Cleland. The flash which is supposed to be green is seen
on the horizon just as the sun goes down. It has been often seen, people say, at sea
or perhaps also in the desert.
JL: Hi, this is Jonathan Larsen. The requirement is an unobstructed westerly view over
open ocean and a clear enough day so the haze is not too great, so that you can
actually see the refracted or bent suns rays.
CC: My name is Chris Cansler. For 13 years we operated a small resort on the island
of St. Thomas and every evening at sunset the guests would congregate on the beach
with their Rum Gumbies and Pina Coladas and await the green flash.
Ah, the Islands. We will have another "green" show tomorrow. The Weather Notebook
is funded by Subaru and the National Science Foundation.
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