Hello everyone,
Interesting subject here. I hope this post isn't too long and contributes to the conversation. First, some background info.. I should say that I am not a scientist or meteorologist.....not collage educated either. I am one of those sensitive types...which includes a keen awareness of my environment. Though I cannot claim to be fully awake...my past and current occupations and hobby's have trained me to have a relatively high level of attention and focus.
My true love is making music(guitar/sing) and my occupation as a craftsman requires me to work with dangerous machine tools...so, keeping my digits attached to my body is of the utmost importance. I also love riding my motorcycle, but living in the NE US makes this a very dangerous activity.
I'm aware I may be an "adrenaline junkie" ...but riding does put me in a state of non-anticipating, but ready for anything awareness...for me it completely shuts up the "mind chatter"and "blows out the cobwebs". I have considered giving this up, because the attention span and driving skills of most people seems to be rapidly deteriorating in this part of the world....and though I have 40yrs of riding exp with no injury accidents, ( BIG knock on wood here!) in recent years I've had too many close calls that no amount of riding skill could negate..like getting run down while waiting at a stop sign( 2 REALLY close calls in last 3 yrs)
( I have noticed that a hour or two after EE, I have a very similar clean calm feeling, as a good, long, twisty back-road ride gives.)
Sorry about the diversion, but I wanted to provide some credentials to the fact that I DO pay close attention to reality, left and right.
Back to the point of this post. I acquired a digital camera in 08. I am blessed to work at home..and am one of those annoying "morning people"...almost always up before dawn. I love what photographers call the "golden hour",and often stand outside with my coffee and watch the stars fade, and the sky change from azure to all the beautiful colors. Some days the color is only there for a matter of minutes...but it never fails to fill my heart with joy..its one of the true free gifts of this wonderful/terrible 3D existence. ( it also saddens me to think of all the folk that miss, or don't care about this joyful prelude to the day)
Anyway...I started to photograph and capture the good ones, and once I got over the ingrained habit of "saving film" , i amassed a huge amount of sunrise, and sunset shots.
Please note; the following is my observations...and little of my own uneducated speculation...which I'm more than willing to be corrected on if anyone here knows more...
In 2008, and maybe half of 2009, the color and its concentration to the east or west, was pretty consistent. Though i don't have photographic evidence before that time, there did seem to be more days with good deep color, than there was in previous years, which i think can be attributed to lower atmospheric dust loading...like the period after volcanic events that "paint the sky". Here's two pics of "normal" nice predawn sky.
The changes, as 2009 progressed, were essentially exactly like what was being talked about here....not sure exactly where I read it but there were references to a thinning and "opening up" of the planet , including the atmosphere.
What I observed was a noticeable decline in good, colorful sunrise days. When there was color, it was more "washed", and pastel.
I also observed a sharp increase of what I call a "backward sunrise/sunset"...in which I mean that when the sun rises or sets, there is color on cloud reflections all the way to the opposite horizon.
My speculation here is;(and if anyone here understands this better,again, please correct me) that the lower dust was moving up, and/or we are getting more dust and charged particulates from outer space, and possibly an increase in distance between the surface of the earth, and the edge of the upper atmosphere.
Early in 2010 I witnessed another phenomenon that I had NEVER seen before, which was this "beaming" effect. (my term)kinda freaky IMO.
If you look at the second of the first two photos...that is how the first peek of the sun always looked in general, before late 2009/2010.
( at times there was the "ray effect", but that was due to thick cloud cover with holes) ...so...what I am most curious about is, if anyone here can direct me to info. or help me better understand the way that light and atmospheric density interacts, and is this the early indications of the approaching Wave?
Also, I feel these "baffled scientists " might have it backwards..(remember sts is scientists last name!)..because I also noticed that when I sit out back my shop for a break in the early afternoon, that certain days the suns intensity was higher that I ever noticed in the past.....and I do spend a lot of time outdoors. It felt like I could have got a sun burn on my big bald head in a matter of minutes, and caused me to go back in and get a hat...just to smoke a butt! I may be wrong here, as it could have been an ozone hole letting through more UV.
I once tried to tell some friends about what I was seeing...and I got that "look"you get when you forget external considering and try to share something that doesn't fit their awareness.
Sorry about the length of this post...but I'm just trying to understand what I'm seeing. Thanks for listening.
Dave
PS: Many thanks to Laura and everyone here for your dedication to truth and hard work...it has helped me in SO many ways.
*Mods note* Fixed images for you!