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Gallery: 2018 Examples of Sun Glints

Panel 1: On April 21st, 2018, DSCOVR EPIC observed a bright glint from the smooth water surface at the Arabian Sea. Panel 2: On July 4, 2018, DSCOVR EPIC captured a sun glint from ice clouds over Mexico. Panel 3: On August 5, 2018, DSCOVR EPIC observed a sun glint from ice clouds over Thailand. Panel 4: On September 9, 2018, DSCOVR EPIC captured a sun glint from ice clouds over South Sudan. The glints appear blue on the east side and red on the west side because EPIC uses a filter wheel and captures the red component of the image slightly later than the blue component—and during the time in between, the Earth’s rotation shifts the position of the glint to the west. (See Fig. 6 at https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/epic for an image of EPIC’s filter wheel.)

Image https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/epic-galleries/2018/sun_glints/thumbs/epic_1b_20180421080728.png
Image https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/epic-galleries/2018/sun_glints/thumbs/epic_1b_20180704190006.png
Image https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/epic-galleries/2018/sun_glints/thumbs/epic_1b_20180805045824.png
Image https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/epic-galleries/2018/sun_glints/thumbs/epic_1b_20180909093647.png
Click on any of the images above to see full-sized versions.