Climate Change To Produce More Rainbows, Says Study

Climate change will have an unusual consequences - the world will get to see more rainbows. In a study published in Global Environment Change, the team of researchers said that by the year 2100, the frequency of rainbows appearing across the globe will increase by as much as five per cent. The research is based on crowd-sourced images, global climate data and a computerised model. The data showed that 66 to 79 per cent of land areas will see increase in rainbow sightings while 21 to 34 per cent will see fewer 'rainbow days'.

Sunlight and rainfall are the two important ingredients for rainbows as they are formed after water droplets refract sunlight. Human activities have altered the climatic balance on the planet, leading to changes in rainfall pattern and amounts of cloud cover.

The study is led by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and was meant to monitor the less obvious effects of climate change.

"Living in Hawai'i, I felt grateful that stunning, ephemeral rainbows were a part of my daily life. I wondered how climate change might affect such rainbow viewing opportunities," said land systems scientist Kimberly Carlson, the lead author of the study.

The team used the data collected in the form of photographs from photo-sharing website like Flickr and cross-referenced the data against maps of precipitation, cloud cover and the angle of the Sun.

The researchers said that places located as high altitude and with less population density will benefit the most from the overall increase in 'rainbow days'.

They said that the best places to spot rainbows in the coming years are islands because of the air circulation around sea and localised showers surrounded by clear skies that allows more sunlight to enter.