Hawaiian Surf

August 08, 2004

Hawaii_026 copy

Provided by: Daniel Haier, UCSB
Summary authors & editors: Daniel Haier; Jim Foster

This picture was captured early in teh morning on December 28, 2002 on the island of Kauai, off Poipu Beach. The waves here, on Kauai's south shore, are normally tranquil. However, when this picture was taken, it happened to be high tide, proceeding a heavy storm. These waves contained cold water that had upwelled from the bottom of the ocean, several km offshore. The color of the waves was an unusual but pleasing bluish green, which perhaps results from the combination of a shallow cloud deck and the nutrient-rich deep water. Water transmits light of all the visible colors, though, it absorbs the reds and yellows more readily than the blues and violets -- its peak transparency is in the blue-green portion of the spectrum.

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