Yesterday in Vancouver, BC, Canada, we had a spectacular rainbow. At
the moment that the rainbow began, I noticed it formed as a "V" at an
end that was touching the ground.

See this (low quality, cameraphone) pictu

http://flickr.com/photos/brevity/6986095/

Both arms had pronounced color.

The second "arm" of the rainbow, which seemed to be almost at a
different angle to the other one, disappared after a minute or two.

How could this happen?

The rainbow started as the sun slowly dipped below a layer of cloud.
Could there have been some interference by the cloud?

And even if there was some other sun-like image in the clouds, how
could I have seen a seemingly skewed rainbow? As far as I know, a
rainbow should always appear "flat", at a constant angle relative to
the observer and the sun.

Neil K wrote:
Yesterday in Vancouver, BC, Canada, we had a spectacular rainbow. At
the moment that the rainbow began, I noticed it formed as a "V" at an
end that was touching the ground.

See this (low quality, cameraphone) pictu

http://flickr.com/photos/brevity/6986095/

Both arms had pronounced color.

The second "arm" of the rainbow, which seemed to be almost at a
different angle to the other one, disappared after a minute or two.

How could this happen?

The rainbow started as the sun slowly dipped below a layer of cloud.
Could there have been some interference by the cloud?

And even if there was some other sun-like image in the clouds, how
could I have seen a seemingly skewed rainbow? As far as I know, a
rainbow should always appear "flat", at a constant angle relative to
the observer and the sun.

You captured a reflection bow (congratulations!) - it is caused by the
sun reflecting from the water or shiny wet ground, lots of which can be
seen in your photo. From the "rainbows viewpoint" there are two suns,
the reflected one an equal distance below the horizon as the real one is
above it - this results in the offset, larger reflected bow that
intersects the "real" one at the horizon.

Must dig out the film, but about a decade ago I photographed a fine
example of a reflected bow here in Seattle, it was so bright that I
could easily see four bows, the primary and secondary for both the real
and reflected sun.

Bob ^,,^

"Bob Harrington" wrote in message ...

You captured a reflection bow (congratulations!)

Thanks!

One thing that still seems puzzling: the reflection bow disappeared
after a few minutes, while the main rainbow persisted. The sun was
still over water.

Perhaps it was there, but it was just lost as the clouds behind it lit
up.

Neil Kandalgaonkar wrote:
"Bob Harrington" wrote in message
...

You captured a reflection bow (congratulations!)

Thanks!

One thing that still seems puzzling: the reflection bow disappeared
after a few minutes, while the main rainbow persisted. The sun was
still over water.

Perhaps it was there, but it was just lost as the clouds behind it lit
up.

The sunlight that creates the reflection bow takes a different path than
that which creates the 'real' bow. If a cloud shadow covers the water
at the point of reflection, the reflection bow will disappear. Also, if
the wind blows enough to rough up the water, the reflected image of the
sun will become too diffuse to create a well defined bow.