Wavy patterns appearing during eclipse totality

[olive1989]

Hello everybody!

Yesterday during the eclipse totality my family and I noticed some strange wavy patterns appear on the ground. This made the experience more otherworldly and amazing but I have no idea what it was, they looked like water ripples, sadly I couldn't take a good photograph of them but the 5 of us could see them very clearly. Does anyone know what they were?

Best regards!

[Christopher Shriver]

1 hour ago, olive1989 said:

some strange wavy patterns appear on the ground

Could you perchance be more descriptive? Were you seeing this manifest in the light, or in the motion of objects around you?

If not light, my first guess is a doppler effect of tidal forces along the surface as the increase in the "tug" changes over to a decrease more rapidly under totality(more precisely, at a pinpoint location where the Sun and Moon are pulling in a common direction than anywhere else.)

Edited April 9 by Christopher Shriver

[Vancanneyt Sander]

Likely crescent shadows that appeared. See https://www.shoresandislands.com/solar-eclipse/phenomena/

[Drax Spacex]

I also noticed as the Sun was a thin crescent that shadows from straight lines (such as a stick) would appear as normal thickness for a specific rotation angle, but then very thin rotated 90 degrees.

[Sapphire828]

Maybe "shadow bands"?

Smarter Everyday on YouTube made a good video about this. See his channel episode 295, it was released about a month ago.

[Archmonoth]

2 hours ago, olive1989 said:

Hello everybody!

Yesterday during the eclipse totality my family and I noticed some strange wavy patterns appear on the ground. This made the experience more otherworldly and amazing but I have no idea what it was, they looked like water ripples, sadly I couldn't take a good photograph of them but the 5 of us could see them very clearly. Does anyone know what they were?

Best regards!

 

All the photons casting shadows were squeezed over the Moon's edge before entering your eyes. They are acutely polarization (rotation angle), which is what you are seeing. 

Edited April 9 by Archmonoth

[olive1989]

1 hour ago, Christopher Shriver said:

Could you perchance be more descriptive? Were you seeing this manifest in the light, or in the motion of objects around you?

The best way I can find to describe them is similar to the the reflection of water ripples, they were darker and moving fast. I tried to take pics and video but they don't show on my phone. But I have asked other people in my city and some others saw something similar. I live in northern Mexico if that's relevant

[ember]

I think this video is what you're referring to: 

https://t.me/MasterCMiller/1299

[olive1989]

5 minutes ago, Sapphire828 said:

Maybe "shadow bands"?

Smarter Everyday on YouTube made a good video about this. See his channel episode 295, it was released about a month ago.

Thanks!! I just Google the term and seem to be what we saw yesterday . I'll check the video to further investigate. But I think this was it

1 hour ago, Vancanneyt Sander said:

Likely crescent shadows that appeared. See https://www.shoresandislands.com/solar-eclipse/phenomena/

They were undulating lines on the ground they looked different but I don't know if is the same phenomenon 

According to Wikipedia 

Shadow bands are thin, wavy lines of alternating light and dark that can be seen moving and undulating in parallel on plain-coloured surfaces immediately before and after a total solar eclipse.[1] They are caused by the refraction by Earth's atmospheric turbulence[2] of the solar crescent as it thins to a narrow slit, which increasingly collimates the light reaching Earth in the minute just before and after totality

I think this might be what we saw yesterday

[Calder]

4 hours ago, olive1989 said:

Hello everybody!

Yesterday during the eclipse totality my family and I noticed some strange wavy patterns appear on the ground. This made the experience more otherworldly and amazing but I have no idea what it was, they looked like water ripples, sadly I couldn't take a good photograph of them but the 5 of us could see them very clearly. Does anyone know what they were?

Best regards!

Yes, sounds like you observed shadow bands. They’re also nicknamed “shadow snakes”. It was one of my favourite parts of the event. I was on the hunt for them haha. They only become visible around 2 minutes before totality and for 2 minutes after totality, but sometimes they aren’t visible at all. It’s a really interesting phenomenon.

They also start disorganized and become more organized the closer you get to totality. Then after totality, they reverse direction and get less organized until they disappear.

Edited April 9 by Calder
Added additional information

[hamateur 1953]

Shadow bands racing across the landscape were seen live by myself during 1979 eclipse in Goldendale Wa. We attended an eclipse primer at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle Wa and I may even still have my Sun peep mask we received gratis for attending this event.  Was incredible sight to see!!  Super impressed by everything and we only had two minutes of totality as well!  Mike 

[Christopher Shriver]

Whew, that's not at all what I was picturing as it was described. I've never seen those crescent shadows before, cool stuff

[hamateur 1953]

1 hour ago, Christopher Shriver said:

Whew, that's not at all what I was picturing as it was described. I've never seen those crescent shadows before, cool stuff

I also saw those crescent shadows the next year during a partial!! It drove me nuts trying to figure out what the heck was going on!  I finally saw the tiny holes in the leaves of a tree above me through which it appears that the sun was being projected onto the ground at my feet!  Really crazy!!

3 hours ago, Archmonoth said:

 

All the photons casting shadows were squeezed over the Moon's edge before entering your eyes. They are acutely polarization (rotation angle), which is what you are seeing. 

No kidding!  All these years I have assumed that it was simply the irregular surface features being displayed!! Cool.   Edit:  I almost always learn new stuff here. Sometimes it’s disturbing indeed, now I gotta try to remember just why I didn’t pay closer attention to  the narrator when he was describing “ shadow bands “ and their origins!  Haha 

Edited April 9 by hamateur 1953
Spooky action at a distance

[hamateur 1953]

If this is like the interference fringes of the double-slit experiment, I may as well admit I failed in my attempts to collapse that waveform.  Haha.  I have enough trouble with regular physics as it is now!!! Ouch. Mike 

[cgrant26]

They're called shadow bands, They don't occur during totality but rather in the seconds right before and after totality. The effect kind of resembles heat blur rising up from a hot object but it's a 2D effect on flat surfaces. It's much easier to see on light colored surfaces so bringing a white sheet to an eclipse is a good way to see them if you don't have any light colored flat surfaces nearby.

 

Examples:

 

Edited April 10 by cgrant26

[hamateur 1953]

1 hour ago, cgrant26 said:

They're called shadow bands, They don't occur during totality but rather in the seconds right before and after totality. The effect kind of resembles heat blur rising up from a hot object but it's a 2D effect on flat surfaces. It's much easier to see on light colored surfaces so bringing a white sheet to an eclipse is a good way to see them if you don't have any light colored flat surfaces nearby.

 

Examples:

 

Cool post Dude. Yeah I did see them in 1979 plus attended a primer on the eclipse and recall him telling us to watch for them before and after.  We were incredibly fortunate. That day Prosser Washington was overcast ( it was  the longest duration predicted) so Mikey drives like a maniac towards Goldendale Wa where the clouds were predicted to open!  They did 15 minutes before totality! And closed shortly afterwards! An incredible bit of good fortune I will never forget!  Haha those bands were so cool!  Awesome sight!!  Mt St Helens blew next year, heard the explosion live btw. But that ain’t Spaceweather!!  Mike. Edit: the other cool thing was that we were at Solar Max at the time and a huge flare or prominence erupted during totality @tniickck is probably correct that it didn’t crack the corona but It still left an after-image I recall very well and my eyes weren’t hurt.  Cool 😎 

Edited April 10 by hamateur 1953
Mt St Helens. Prominence

[Philalethes]

As others have pointed out already, it definitely sounds like shadow bands from the description. Essentially caused by something similar to what causes heat shimmer and heat haze over hot long surfaces. Worth noting that this is quite distinct from the crescent shadows, but both are certainly very cool shadow phenomena associated with eclipses.

[hamateur 1953]

Yes the weird little crescents showed up on an hvac rooftop unit I was working on during a partial the next year I think it was, the sun was only occulted maybe 30-40 percent I was aware of the eclipse, of course but had seen a total.  Was really an unusual experience to see leaves become mini-projectors.  I’d never heard of the phenomena prior to seeing it.  And @Vancanneyt Sander and @Archmonoth and @cgrant26 nailed the shadow bands, I am pretty sure.  Unless those alien bases have antenna farms too. (Jk) 🤣

Edited April 10 by hamateur 1953
Aliens

[Philalethes]

7 minutes ago, hamateur 1953 said:

Yes the weird little crescents showed up on an hvac rooftop unit I was working on during a partial the next year I think it was, the sun was only occulted maybe 30-40 percent I was aware of the eclipse, of course but had seen a total.  Was really an unusual experience to see leaves become mini-projectors.  I’d never heard of the phenomena prior to seeing it.  

Heh, seeing something like that out of the blue must have felt a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole. Good time to check your rye bread for ergot fungus.

But yeah, the principle itself is definitely cool, same principle as the human eye and cameras when you get down to it; and interestingly it works for the exact opposite reason of why the shadow bands form right before and after totality.

And look who was one of the first people to describe it:

Quote

One of the earliest known written records of a pinhole image is found in the Chinese text called Mozi, dated to the 4th century BC, traditionally ascribed to and named for Mozi (circa 470 BC-circa 391 BC), a Chinese philosopher and the founder of Mohist School of Logic.

Distant relative of yours I assume, @mozy?

[tniickck]

sad that Moscow wont get a total eclipse till 2126 but im gonna drive to Ural in 2061 to see it, its crazy that i'll be 53 already

black hole sun won't you come

[mozy]

2 hours ago, Philalethes said:

Heh, seeing something like that out of the blue must have felt a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole. Good time to check your rye bread for ergot fungus.

But yeah, the principle itself is definitely cool, same principle as the human eye and cameras when you get down to it; and interestingly it works for the exact opposite reason of why the shadow bands form right before and after totality.

And look who was one of the first people to describe it:

Distant relative of yours I assume, @mozy?

💪

[cgrant26]

A little more deep-diving into the science behind shadow bands. Video should start at the time stamp where they start talking about them but the whole video is worth a watch if you have the time. (shadow bands discussion at ~53:58)

 

 

[Philalethes]

1 hour ago, cgrant26 said:

A little more deep-diving into the science behind shadow bands. Video should start at the time stamp where they start talking about them but the whole video is worth a watch if you have the time. (shadow bands discussion at ~53:58)

Some of the things he says here seem a bit strange to me. It seems weird to try contrasting astronomical seeing against the scintillation observed with stars when they're caused by the same phenomenon; and even weirder to talk about where moisture picks up in that context, since humidity itself doesn't affect seeing. It almost sounds to me like he's confusing transparency and seeing there.

To be clear, I think he's absolutely correct that it happens lower in the atmosphere and that it has to do with the same thing as astronomical seeing, but I don't see why he thinks that's any different from what fundamentally causes stars to twinkle or why he brings up moisture specifically.

You can actually see the light from stars breaking up due to the same phenomenon (some good visual examples here), and I don't think the main cause of it is really in dispute at this point, although there might be some other aspects to it that are. This paper gives a thorough treatment of it, and concludes:

Quote

The results of the experiment conclusively indicate that the shadow band phenomenon is a manifestation of atmospheric turbulence, in the form of air pockets of different density from that of their environment (density schlieren), made visible by the light from the crescent sun. Light passing through these areas of abnormal density gradient is refracted, and, dependent upon the size, spacing, altitude, and density of the packets, forms distinct patterns of alternating shadow and brightness upon the ground.

[Drax Spacex]

Yes, the shadow bands do look very similar to twinkling stars, especially when viewing stars intentionally defocused through a telescope.  You see not a point, but a filled circle with similar wavy patterns (plus color shifting).

[WhereingtonEvent]

On 4/9/2024 at 10:26 AM, olive1989 said:

Hello everybody!

Yesterday during the eclipse totality my family and I noticed some strange wavy patterns appear on the ground. This made the experience more otherworldly and amazing but I have no idea what it was, they looked like water ripples, sadly I couldn't take a good photograph of them but the 5 of us could see them very clearly. Does anyone know what they were?

Best regards!

I also saw these waves on the ground. Southern Illinois. I got them on phone video, however the video is not even close to what they look like in real life.