warpus
In pork I trust
Glaciar Grey Scenic Cruise continues...
None of these pictures are modified in any way, if you can believe it.. Parts of the glacier were just that unbelievably blue.
Same effect as the sky or a swimming pool. Water absorbs everything else and is transparent to blue. Water vapor in the atmosphere passes blue so we see scattered white sunlight as sky...the water in your pool passes blue (both ways) so we see the white plaster bottom of the pool as blue...the blue of the glacier is the light coming through the ice.
But once again, it's a thing where being able to explain it doesn't make it any less startling.
I like the way the blue is in parts of the ice but not others.
I had to look this phenomenon up right after because I just didn't expect it to be so blue. It was mesmerizing.
Here's more info.
I think the reason for the sky being blue is different, though. The above article alludes to this - and points to Rayleigh scattering as being responsible for the sky being blue.
Either way, it's pretty fascinating.. and just plain pretty.
From what I've read, the blueness really comes out when there aren't many air bubbles in the glacier and when it is compressed very well. I'm sure there are a lot of other factors as well.
Fortune smiles on the traveler who earns it.
Blue ice, isn't that the stuff they use in airplane toilets?
I think that's something else. Blue Ice are those packs you put in your freezer and then throw in your lunchbox.
You also get it when you flush a mobile sewage system. Anything from a porta-potty, bus, trains, and aircraft. It's the blue chemical that's used in the storage tank to keep the stink under control. If you purge an airliner's sewage at altitude, it freezes solid.
I always just thought of the chemical toilet stuff as...well...chemical toilet stuff. Is that the same stuff that's in the Blue Ice packs? If so, eww. I mean Blue Ice is actually a trademarked brand name that one manufacturer of those cooler packs uses, and I would think they would have avoided that particular connotation. Here, freeze this chemical toilet stuff and toss it in your lunchbox seems tough to market.