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[Phys-L] Rainbow serpent question



On another newsgroup, somebody reported a "wavy rainbow" or rainbow-serpent
phenomenon, a line of rainbow colors that zig-zagged, but was otherwise flat
(no overall curvature). I can't explain it, has anyone come across this
before? Apparently, this was fairly high in the sky, around noon (so I'm
thinking upper atmospheric phenomenon rather than a rainbow) somewhere
around New Mexico.


I asked a few questions, trying to get a better idea of what had been observed:

I'm not completely familiar with that area, but are there mountains around
(I mean irregular topology, peaks and such, not just high altitude)?

The area has very irregular topology, it is a series of canyons, mesas, and
plateaus.
----------------------------------------
were there clouds in the sky to reflect the light back up to the altitude of
ice crystals?

Absolutely yes. There was a distinct layer of flat whitish clouds a bit of
distance under the rainbow/sundog
------------------------------------------
Was the serpent seen against a background of cloud or against a blue sky? If
the latter, how blue?

Unfortunately this is where human memory breaks down. My husband "remembers"
the clouds a little distance under (with a gap in between) and nothing over,
with the rainbow/sundog being against blue sky. I "remember" the layer of
clouds a bit under, but I also thought that the rainbow/sundog was set
against a different type of light greyish cloud which was both directly
above and below. So in other words, there is no answer to this, as the
specific memories are fuzzy and contradictory. Sorry. :-)

-------------------------
Were you wearing sunglasses? Polarized?

No sunglasses.

-------------------------
What sort of angle were the zig-zags? Was it close to flat, about 45
degrees, or very tightly bunched?

Wide angles, about 120 degrees. I think around 5 "peaks" up and 5 down, and
taking up about 45 degrees of the sky width-wise, and about 5 degrees
height-wise. The rainbow sundog was wavy in composition, but the whole of it
was completely horizontal, no arch at all.

------------------------
Do you recall the angle between the formation and the sun?

With my head making a line to a point in the sky directly above me, I
believe the sun was behind that line about 20 - 30 degrees (roughly south)
The rainbow sundog was in front of that line around 30 degrees.
-------------------------------------

Did the line point towards the sun, or transverse to the sun, or somewhere
in between?

looking from above

/\/\/\/\/\/\/ rainbow/sundog
x me
O sun
-----------------------

Did the colors form evenly across the band (like a rainbow), or mixed up in
an irregular manner? Were the color bands continous through the zigzags, or
did they break and re-form?

The colors were the first thing I looked for, they were all there and in the
same order as a rainbow. The bands were continuous throughout, very regular,
they did not break.

Hope this helps. Luckily I have a visual memory, so can call up the picture,
but of course it's just memory, and subject to the fuzziness that memories
have. Wish I'd realized it was an unusual phenomena when I saw it, I would
have taken that darn photo, and been more analytical in my viewing.
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