page_title: Rainbow
section_title: Reflected rainbow, reflection rainbow
hierarchical_section_title: Rainbow / Variations / Reflected rainbow, reflection rainbow
caption_attribution_description: English: Example of a reflection rainbow (contrast enhanced) over Skagit Bay, Whidbey Is. WA with sun setting and reflected behind camera from water of Dugualla Bay, taken by Terry L Anderson 8/25/2007 (released to public domain Terry 17:13, 11 September 2007 (UTC)). Original resolution 2048 x 1360.
context_page_description: A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the sun.
  Rainbows can be full circles. However, the observer normally sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground, and centered on a line from the sun to the observer's eye.
  In a primary rainbow, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted when entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it.
  In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc. This is caused by the light being reflected twice on the inside of the droplet before leaving it.
context_section_description: When a rainbow appears above a body of water, two complementary mirror bows may be seen below and above the horizon, originating from different light paths. Their names are slightly different.
  A reflected rainbow may appear in the water surface below the horizon. The sunlight is first deflected by the raindrops, and then reflected off the body of water, before reaching the observer. The reflected rainbow is frequently visible, at least partially, even in small puddles.
  A reflection rainbow may be produced where sunlight reflects off a body of water before reaching the raindrops, if the water body is large, quiet over its entire surface, and close to the rain curtain. The reflection rainbow appears above the horizon. It intersects the normal rainbow at the horizon, and its arc reaches higher in the sky, with its centre as high above the horizon as the normal rainbow's centre is below it.  Reflection bows are usually brightest when the sun is low because at that time its light is most strongly reflected from water surfaces.  As the sun gets lower the normal and reflection bows are drawn closer together. Due to the combination of requirements, a reflection rainbow is rarely visible.
  Up to eight separate bows may be distinguished if the reflected and reflection rainbows happen to occur simultaneously: The normal (non-reflection) primary and secondary bows above the horizon (1, 2) with their reflected counterparts below it (3, 4), and the reflection primary and secondary bows above the horizon (5, 6) with their reflected counterparts below it (7, 8).
caption: Reflection rainbow (top) and normal rainbow (bottom) at sunset
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