Rainbow mystery Arctic ice

Last February, a traveler, Markkanen Mika had a rare opportunity to ride on skates on the icy Arctic lake surrounded by mountains on the Norwegian island of Senja. And when he stood on the ice, a miracle happened.

"Next to the bright reflection of the sun on ice I noticed an unusual rainbow stripes. Fortunately, I had my camera and tripod and I managed to take some photos," said Markkanen.

To find out the origin of this phenomenon, the man contacted experts in the field of color and atmospheric optics. But none of them for a long time could not give a clear answer. Finally, a year later, Dietrich Zawisza, a former Professor at the Institute for theoretical physics, Hannover University have found a possible explanation. Using computer simulations, he modeled colorful arcs as an interference pattern created by the fine grains on the surface of the ice.

"Such beautiful natural ice are very rare, and I think that this optical effect is so unusual that it has no scientific name. Granular texture of the ice surface was probably the main cause of colors. It could be because of the snow, which came during the freezing of the water in calm weather. Presumably, the rays of sunlight reflected by the neighbouring grains by means of interference," explained the Professor, adding that while between photograph and simulation failed to achieve full compliance, the basic physics of this phenomenon, most likely, played right.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»