interesting sight from flight over texas
Hello:
I flew from Florida to San Jose yesterday. While over one hour after Houston, Texas, in an embraer jet, we were at cruising altitude and when I looked outside the window, i saw the clouds, (the plain was above the clouds) an at the edge of the cloud was a somewhat of a wide stretch of orange/brownish color to the sky, that did not look like a sunset (plus it was too early in the day) after that colored stretch of air it faded out into the blue sky. The discoloration stayed there as a stretchmark over the entire time. The passenger next to me was in the oil industry and I asked him what he thinks this was. He said it could be smog. I think smog would not show up that high (30 000 plus feet in the air?) I wondered whether it was "the plume". My passenger next to me then said it could be the wild fires over Texas?
Anyhow, it sure was interesting as I have not seen anything like that before on a flight.
I will take a picture in case it is still there when I fly back.
Isn't the "plume" invisible?
Isn't the "plume" invisible? There have been HUGE wildfires over Texas...Seems a much more logical explanation to me.
Just an opinion...
...but, given that radiation is colorless, odorless, and pretty much undetectable outside of very highly specialized equipment (Geiger counters, etc.), I tend to dismiss this as apocryphal, at best, and categorize it with tales of silver / metallic "clouds", yellow / odorous snow, etc. Texas is currently being decimated by never-before-seen wildfires numbering in the scores, and by some estimates has already seen acreage burned nearly half the area of the state of Connecticut. I live 25 miles north of Dallas and can personally vouch for the hazy yellowish-orange tint to the sky, as well as frequently dazzling sunrises and sunsets, that are at least in some part due to the enormous quantity of soot and particulate debris being lifted into the air by these conflagrations. I'm not saying it's IMPOSSIBLE that what's going on in Japan has any bearing on these sorts of observations, but let's remember: before ANY of this stuff begins to enter Texas's airspace, it must first traverse 5000 miles of open sea, followed by another thousand miles of densely populated U.S. territory, including southern California and Nevada. Whatever's in the atmosphere will only continue to disperse and disseminate as it makes its way fully one-quarter around the globe from Fukushima. I think we can breathe somewhat easier given these considerations.
Rick.
Rick, Radiation may be
Rick,
Radiation may be invisible, but the chemicals that are radioactive still behave like their stable counterparts. Rarely is there mass quantities of Iodine or Cesium released to the atmosphere. Both chemicals cause reactions that can be seen, not just from a radiochemistry perspective. Iodine compounds tend to form yellow to brown particulates that could be detected visually.
Radiocesium salts would be a different color, and flouresce under ultraviolet light.
Xenon is colorless, but because it has different refractive properties from air, could be visually detected at very accute angles where it would bend light differently.
These are all highschool-type science experiments.
I'm willing to stand corrected, of course...
...but I'd still be far more inclined to "blame" historic wildfires in Texas, than some unnaturally cohesive agglomeration of vast quantities of isotopes that somehow managed to retain uniformity across six thousand miles. Especially since ALL air monitoring recently has demonstrated a long, gradual, predictable decline in atmospheric concentrations.
...Like I said, I'm no expert. Would like to hear the BRAWM team's take on this.
Btw, it took me two years to pass high school chemistry, and I only managed a C- in the subject in college. So, consider the source.
Rick.
Remember BRAWM is measuring
Remember BRAWM is measuring radiation, not chemical composition. As the Iodine and Xenon decay, they become stable Xenon and Cesium respectively. Even though the signatures from radiation disappear, these chemicals are still in the atmosphere until they are scrubbed by rain.
I was on a flight two weeks ago from NYC to SF and saw a lot of strange looking air west of the Rockies.
it would be great if we had
it would be great if we had some pilots on the forum that could give their observations. Out of curiosity, could you describe the strange looking air?
thanks.
The air looked milky and
The air looked milky and heavy and full of dirt. The lateral view was tinted orange and upon landing it was an extra orange cast from the setting sun.
I should also add that we
I should also add that we were flying at 39,000 ft and it was still an orange tint outside. Smog doesn't get that high.
It might be invisible in
It might be invisible in lower concentrations and in a straght line of sight, but may diffract light at odd incident angles in large concentrations. This might be due to the change of refractivity vs. normal air.
That being said, I don't know if that hypothesis has ever been tested.