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Inflight observation of Bottlinger’s rings

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Abstract

On the morning of 5 November 2013, a bright subsun was consistently visible during a flight from Bozeman, Montana, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Just after passing over the Wasatch Mountains and beginning to descend into the Salt Lake Valley, the subsun expanded to a rare display of Bottlinger’s rings—an elliptical halo surrounding the subsun. The rings remained visible for 1 to 2 min. This paper shows photographs of the sequence, along with meteorological data from a nearby radiosonde. The display occurred in virga below clouds at an air temperature in the approximate range from 8°C to 12°C, in air saturated with respect to ice, at an altitude of approximately 2600–3600 m above mean sea level.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

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Figures (14)

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. The subsun is a bright specular reflection of the sun from the faces of nearly horizontally oriented ice crystals. It appears at the same angle below the horizon as the solar elevation angle above the horizon. Here, a parhelion (or sundog) is also visible to the right of the sun.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Slightly vertically elongated subsun visible below the clouds near the Gallatin River and Highway 191 in southwestern Montana, near or inside the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park (5 November 2013, 0813 MST = 1513 UTC).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. First hint of Bottlinger’s rings photographed over Ogden, Utah, with 44 mm focal length (5 November 2013, 0845 MST = 1545 UTC).
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Nearly full Bottlinger’s rings display photographed over Ogden, Utah, with 56 mm focal length (5 November 2013, 0846 MST = 1546 UTC).
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. Full display of Bottlinger’s rings photographed over Ogden, Utah, with 56 mm focal length (5 November 2013, 0846 MST = 1546 UTC).
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. Fading Bottlinger’s rings photographed over Ogden, Utah, with 50 mm focal length (5 November 2013, 0847 MST = 1547 UTC).
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7. Last view with a hint of Bottlinger’s rings over Ogden, Utah, with 22 mm focal length (5 November 2013, 0847 MST = 1547 UTC).
Fig. 8.
Fig. 8. Vertical profiles of air temperature and dew point temperature from a radiosonde launched from the Salt Lake City airport at 1200 UTC on 5 November 2013, 3 h and 46 min prior to the Bottlinger’s rings observation (courtesy of the University of Wyoming Atmospheric Sciences Department).
Fig. 9.
Fig. 9. Surface meteorological data for 5 November 2013 at the Salt Lake City Airport ( 45 km south of the Bottlinger’s ring observations).
Fig. 10.
Fig. 10. Profiles through key sections of the halo display in Fig. 3.
Fig. 11.
Fig. 11. Profiles through key sections of the halo display in Fig. 4.
Fig. 12.
Fig. 12. Profiles through key sections of the halo display in Fig. 5.
Fig. 13.
Fig. 13. Profiles through key sections of the halo display in Fig. 6.
Fig. 14.
Fig. 14. Profiles through key sections of the halo display in Fig. 7.
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