In Alaska, we are blessed to have many beautiful mountains to look at. When I see a nice view I often take a picture, hoping that it will turn out nicely. You only live once. Unfortunately, all of today’s pictures were taken with my cell phone. My Canon camera would probably have done a better job, but time was of the essence. The scenes would likely have changed while I was getting it and driving back to the viewpoint.
Here in Fairbanks, we have more than the usual weather changes. In addition to the expected variations in precipitation and cloud cover, we sometimes also observe changes in the height of the mountains. This strange meteorological phenomenon is called the looming effect.
Today, the apparent height of the mountains was about twice their height when seen on a typical day. The photography conditions were not optimal, but, even so, I took a few pictures because I saw the chance to share something the reader may find interesting.
Denali is the world’s tallest mountain, when measured base-to-peak, on land. However, it so far away that the curvature of the Earth prevents a straight line view of it from Fairbanks. Knowledge of that fact makes the pictures below rather intriguing, because Denali is visible in today’s image, but not in the other.
The looming effect takes place when the air is cold near the ground and steadily warmer with altitude. Such a temperature profile is called an inversion because it is the opposite of the normal trend. As light passes through layers of air with different temperatures, it changes direction just as it does when passing from air to water, but to a smaller degree.
Light leaving Denali at an angle above the local horizon would normally continue out into space, but the warmer layers in the upper atmosphere bend the light downward to such an extent that people in Fairbanks can see it.
I have heard that early explorers in the interior of Alaska were sometimes greatly mistaken when they attempted to judge the heights of the mountains or the distance to the mountains. The looming effect is not always strong enough to be obvious and a small difference in an angle measurement can translate to a large change in a calculated value.
Fascinating contrast. I am remembering that you spoke of distance giving a storm a different view somehow when Bill and Rita Lesniak were visiting there. You might have mentioned inversion?
Also, I didn’t see muffins! Maybe that post didn’t reach this far away.