Times of the Islands Spring 2021

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green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources Sunset viewing is a popular custom around the world, especially in areas near the water. Crowds gather for drum circles on the beaches of Tel Aviv, Israel; sunset torch lightings and conch-blowing ceremonies are held on Honolulu beaches in the United States; Hindu people make pilgrimages to Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India, where the sun sets over the confluence of three seas. Film-makers have long used sunsets to portray emotion in films and for good reason. The very nature of viewing a sunset is romantic and speaks to humans on an innate level—it marks a satisfying, deep conclusion to the day. In my experience, sunsets have a unique power to bring people together. When I worked at The School for Field Studies (SFS) on South Caicos, I saw it happen with two different semesters of students. Gathering for sunsets became a nightly ritual, treated with excitement and respect. For some of us, this was an intentional commitment. For instance, we had a student who never missed a sunset in her time on South. For others, sunset-watching was a sort of unspoken routine. “When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.” ~ George R.R. Martin Sunsets invoke a sense of awe and ultimately, this is what gives them the power to bring people together. Research shows that people feel more patient, satisfied with life and willing to volunteer time for others after experiencing the emotion of awe. Additionally, awe expands our concept of time, making us feel that we have more time available in our lives. Considering the many awe-inspiring natural moments that happen daily in the TCI, perhaps scientists would consider “island time” as more than merely a saying. Light plays an essential role in many of such natural phenomena: sunsets, rainbows, mirages and even green flashes. But what is the science behind these beautiful tricks of the light? There are a few unseen phenomena that allow you to watch a sunset. To understand them, first consider how humans perceive light generally. Light travels in a straight line and only deviates from that path if an object, such as a tiny molecule or particle, gets in its way. When we look up at the sky during the day, we see blue. This is because as the light from the sun enters Earth’s atmosphere, nitrogen and oxygen molecules are in the light’s way. Light hits these molecules and then scatters in many different directions. All of the colors of the rainbow, which ANNA HANDTE-REINECKER Viewing the daily sunset is a ritual for students and staff at The School for Field Studies in South Caicos. 40 www.timespub.tc
green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources From top: As the sun dips below the horizon, colors with longer wavelength fill the sky. Rainbows are visible due to refraction within raindrops and subsequent reflection between them. make up the light spectrum, are scattered. However, blue and violet light have the shortest wavelengths and highest frequencies, so they are scattered most intensely by nitrogen and oxygen molecules. If that were all though, we would simply see purple-ish skies all the time. We see blue skies because human eyes are not able to perceive the violet hue in a combination of blue and violet, and instead we see just a mixture of pure blue and white light —or simply, blue. As the sun approaches the horizon, the angle of the sun relative to your vantage point on Earth changes. This mean that light rays must travel farther through the atmosphere to reach your eyes. Blue light scatters out by this point, and the colors with longer wavelength—yellows, MELISSA HERES Times of the Islands Spring 2021 41
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