We see the sky as blue because sunlight from the sun passes through our atmosphere, creating a rainbow of hues which we perceive as blue.
Air molecules scatter light wavelengths differently, with more blue wavelengths being scattered than others.
Therefore, autumn and winter skies appear more blue, due to less moisture present and greater Rayleigh scattering.
The Atmosphere
The sky is blue due to Rayleigh Scattering by nitrogen and oxygen molecules. Light waves from the Sun enter our atmosphere where they get scattered by molecules in our air; shorter wavelengths of blue light tend to scatter more than longer wavelengths of red and green light, creating a sort of color balance which becomes visible as soon as the Sun sets; making for beautiful sunsets!
Light is composed of multiple colors that our eyes can only perceive partially. As these hues merge into one hue that our brain interprets as white light, this explains why our Sun emits such an array of rainbow-hued rays while still appearing mostly white against its background sky.
Our atmosphere consists of multiple layers, beginning with the troposphere close to Earth’s surface where most weather occurs and most clouds form, continuing into the stratosphere with jet aircraft flying and an ozone layer region known as it. Next comes thermosphere where heat from Sun is released before finally the mesosphere where very few air molecules exist to refract light and Jupiter can be found.
As sunlight passes through the troposphere, its light is scattered by gas molecules in our atmosphere, with shorter wavelengths of blue being scattered more than longer wavelengths such as red or violet; as a result, our eyes perceive skies to have an overall blue hue.
But why does the sky vary in color from place to place? The answer lies with gas molecules. Smaller ones, such as those of nitrogen and oxygen, absorb and scatter light at wavelengths that our eyes perceive as blue hues.
This phenomenon also explains why Australia, with its large expanses of desert land and extremely clean air, appears more blue. Conversely, heavily polluted cities’ skies appear orange or red due to smaller particles being dispersed by gas molecules more easily.
Water Vapor
As soon as sunlight hits our atmosphere, it becomes scattered, creating a blueish hue. Our atmosphere consists of gas molecules (and other things such as dust and ice crystals). When light hits any one of these molecules, depending on its wavelength it could get absorbed or released depending on whether higher or lower frequencies (from red through violet) dominate absorption versus blue frequencies which tend to let go more readily; eventually when this light escapes again and scatters, stuttering down towards earth again in an unpredictable fashion and eventually creating that unique hue which we call our sky!
Rayleigh Scattering refers to this effect of light scattering that differs depending on your location on Earth due to atmospheric composition differences. Particles smaller than light’s wavelength – like water vapor droplets – often scatter blue light more readily than any other colors.
Thus, places closer to the equator or with more clouds will likely experience bluer skies due to more blue light being scattered away by clouds and/or scattering processes at sunrise/sunset. That also explains why our skies appear blue during the day while at sunrise/sunset they tend to turn more red due to different forms of scattering occurring at these times.
Water vapor does more than simply tint the sky blue; it also serves several essential functions. These include providing plants and animals with natural sources of water, controlling how fast other gases evaporatively escape Earth’s surface and helping determine climate. We can measure airborne concentrations of water vapor to understand climate change over time. Recently, theoretical and observational advances have brought attention to long-term changes in water vapor levels; currently however we lack technology capable of doing this effectively; there may however be promising approaches available that offer solutions.
Pollutants
Pollutants act like water molecules to disperse sunlight’s colors across the sky, giving rise to bluer skies in areas with higher pollution levels. Their sources vary depending on where they reside; most are created by humans. Air pollution affects humans, plants and animals alike as well as disrupt ecosystems – there are various kinds of air pollution such as particulates and gases which contribute to this issue.
Noise pollution is also an environmental hazard that poses significant problems to wildlife, particularly birds that rely on hearing to migrate and find their way home. Marine life, including newly-hatched sea turtles, can also be affected by noise pollution from sources like airplanes or cars; noise may also come from construction projects, mines or manufacturing processes.
Water pollution poses a threat to many organisms, such as fish, amphibians and birds. It can be caused by human activities – like waste dumped into rivers or oceans – or natural sources like oil and chemical spills. There are different forms of pollution such as point source pollution or diffused polluted runoff; with point source polluting single bodies such as lakes or rivers being affected while diffused polluted runoff affects entire bodies of water including rivers or oceans.
Light pollution is an environmental and biological issue, both natural and artificial, that threatens many different organisms. Light pollution poses risks to animals like birds that rely on seeing their mates, as well as disrupting ecosystems. Eastern United States manufacturing areas produce air pollutants which change the color of sky in this way; air pollutants scatter shorter wavelengths of light making the sky appear bluer than usual.
Light pollution is often the result of inefficient or unnecessary lighting, which reduces star visibility – known as skyglow. To combat this issue, The Dark-Sky Association advocates using low pressure sodium lights or amber aluminum gallium indium phosphide LEDs that emit yellowish hues that allow astronomers to quickly filter out and view the night sky more clearly.
Altitude
The sky is blue due to Rayleigh Scattering caused by nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the atmosphere; this phenomenon also accounts for why ocean water appears blue despite not reflecting sky colors directly.
So it is no wonder why the sky appears lighter nearer the horizon and darker blue higher overhead. This distance, known as altitude, changes with each rotation of Earth; thus creating different regions within its atmosphere ranging from troposphere at lower altitude levels up to stratosphere higher up with different gas and particle composition which cause it to change color over time as well.
At sunrise or sunset, when the sun is low in the sky, its light must travel further through the atmosphere before reaching our eyes – which causes more blue and violet wavelengths to scatter off, allowing more reds and yellows to pass directly through – making the sky appear orange or red at these times.
Some people use altitude when discussing vertical distance from sea level; however, this term should actually refer to height above a reference datum such as Earth’s surface, mountain base or ceiling of room.
No straightforward explanation can explain why the sky is blue; multiple factors interacting in complex ways contribute to its color. However, general rules can help shed some light on this phenomenon. For instance, its hue depends on which gases and particles are present in its atmosphere; water vapor and pollutants will have an impact on what shade of blue the sky appears as. It will appear even brighter during periods with high sunlight exposure as more light illuminates it all at once.