A rare optical phenomenon was caught in the Rodnei Mountains National Park: it is the “Gloria effect” – the shadow of a man projected on a cloud of fog, inside a rainbow. The conditions for the occurrence of the phenomenon are extremely rare.
The Gloria effect was captured on the ridge of the Rodnei Mountains, by engineer Geo Moldovan, according to a post on Romsilva’s Facebook page. The spectacle of the phenomenon, which is also called the “Mountain Spectre” or the “Brocken Spectre”, has a precise scientific explanation.
“Under favorable conditions, the observer’s shadow is projected onto the fog. Tiny water droplets reflect sunlight back to it, forming a colorful nimbus around the shadow. Rare conditions refer to the refraction and scattering of light when the sun, located behind the observer, casts its shadow on a cloud or fog lower than its position, and that cloud consists of water droplets with a diameter of in a well-defined interval”, according to Romsilva.
Rodnei Mountains National Park, one of the 22 national and natural parks managed by the National Forestry Authority – Romsilva, is the second national park in the country in terms of area, with over 47,000 hectares. The park is located in the northern part of the country, in the counties of Maramureș and Bistrita-Năsăud.