When sun sets at Sunabe Seawall watch for green flash

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David Higgins

Living along the Sunabe Seawall, there are evenings when you catch a glimpse of the sky and recognize that a phenomenal sunset is about to go down. These are the evenings when my wife and I dash out of the house to wander the seawall in silent awe of the expansive display of color unfolding in front of us. It was on one of these recent magical evenings when we had the good fortune of meeting up with professional photographer, Dan Bender.

As we sat chit chatting and leisurely enjoying the sunset, we noticed that just as the sun set on the distant horizon, a phenomena known as a ‘green flash’ occurred. At first, I felt boggled by what I thought that I had just seen, attributing it to my brain playing tricks on me after too many days of staring too long at a computer screen. I was certain that I was just hallucinating but Dan kept emphatically shouting, ‘Did you see that, the green flash?’ It was then that I started slowly coming around to realize that maybe I really had seen a green flash. Fortunately, Dan had captured evidence on his cameras that the green flash was legit and not just a figment of our vivid imaginations.

The green flash a.k.a. ‘green rays’ are optical phenomena that sometimes occur immediately after sunset or before sunrise. When the conditions are right, a green spot is visible above the upper rim of the disk of the sun. The green appearance usually lasts for no more than a second or two. Green flashes occur because the atmosphere can cause the light from the sun to separate out into different colors. Green flashes are a group of phenomena,

Sunsets at Sunabe are spectacular and when the conditions are right, one can witness what is called “green flash.” (Photos Dan Bender)

which stem from slightly different causes, and therefore some types of green flashes are more common than others.

Next time you are on the seawall taking in a stunning sunset, be sure to pay close attention to the final setting of the sun and you may be lucky enough to witness the elusive ‘green flash’ with your own two eyes.