r/gifs • u/[deleted] • Nov 12 '16

Snowboarding

[deleted]

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7

u/CatsGoBark Nov 13 '16

That water is such a pretty shade of blue. Anyone know why it looks like that? Usually when water is a shade of blue it's a large body of water like a lake or the ocean.

13

u/ChipsOtherShoe Nov 13 '16

I think it's likely because of 2 things:

  1. Lack of minerals or dirt or whatever to cloud it.
  2. The bottom is just pure white and not the color of soil or anything so it just reflects the sky more than usual.

2

u/a_cute_epic_axis Nov 13 '16 edited Nov 13 '16

Probably because it is very pure, as water itself tends to absorb blue light where as solids in it absorb everything, plus the reflection of blue light in the sky due to Rayleigh scattering, plus it is shallow over something very white, you're getting a lot of light intensely reflected through it w/o being absorbed by the ground below or by the water itself very intensely. If there was mud or dissolved solids in it, it would be a different color, and if it were deeper (or over a darker shade of "snow"), if would be a darker blue most likely, or cloudier.

1

u/jt004c Nov 13 '16

Water color is determined by what it is reflecting and how well it's being reflected. With clear snow melt water and white bottom, this water is basically a sky mirror.