The Eleventh (11th) Light and Color in Nature Conference; Fairbanks, Alaska; August 5-8, 2013

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

This grant supports travel funding for early career and/or underrepresented groups to attend the 11th Light and Color in Nature Conference. For 34 years, researchers have been gathering at approximately three-year intervals to share the latest results of their investigations into optical phenomena observed in nature. These meetings are truly special occasions where topics from rigorous mathematical theories of halo formation to the existence of rainbows in ancient Native American art are discussed. The topics addressed at these meetings include, but are not entirely limited to, the following: Rainbows, ice crystal halos, glories, coronas, iridescence, sky color, atmospheric visibility, refraction effects, contrast phenomena, noctilucent clouds, optics of lightning, auroras, colors created by absorption and scattering in water and air, color and light in water and on water surfaces, iridescence and colors in biology and geology. These meetings have been particularly successful at motivating archival research papers and popular articles, films, and books on the subject of optics in nature. Each meeting is followed by a Light and Color in the Open Air feature issue of the Journal of the Optical Society of America or Applied Optics.