Abstract

Shadows of clouds on the atmosphere go by a variety of names: solar rays (sunbeams, sun drawing water) occur when the sun is above the horizon and crepuscular rays (Rays of Buddha, Ropes of Maui) occur when the sun is below the horizon. In this paper the observational properties of such rays are summarized and used as a guide for interpreting the theoretical analyses.

© 1986 Optical Society of America