Travel Support for the 12th International Conference on Light and Color in Nature; Granada, Spain; May 31 - June 3, 2016

该补助金用于资助六名或更多来自美国的研究人员参加在西班牙格拉纳达举行的第12届国际自然光与色会议。 38年来，来自世界各地的研究人员每隔大约三年聚集一次，分享他们对自然界中观察到的光学现象的最新研究结果。这些会议作为报告大气和环境光学进展的最重要（几乎是唯一）论坛，为加强大气光学和相关领域的科学和教育做了很多工作。 这次会议特别成功地激发了档案研究论文和流行的文章，电影和关于自然界光学主题的书籍。每次会议之后，美国光学学会杂志或应用光学杂志都会刊登《露天光与色》专题。2001年，美国光学学会出版了一本CD，收录了这些会议前25年的论文。每次会议都包括一个面向K-12学生和教师的公开会议，通常吸引200-300名外部与会者。在这些会议提供的机会和互动的极大激励下，许多与会者出版了书籍，从科学家到普通公众，会议讨论的主题包括但不完全限于以下内容：彩虹，冰晶晕，光辉，日冕，彩虹色，天空颜色，大气能见度，折射效应，对比现象，极光云，闪电光学、极光、水和空气中吸收和散射产生的颜色、水中和水面上的颜色和光、生物学和地质学中的彩虹和颜色。这些会议最近发表的成果包括第一批记录的第三和第四阶彩虹照片、新晕形成的解释、冰云中日冕的测量、冰晶晕形成的一般理论、通过冰双折射对晕偏振的模型和实验验证、对颜色随云光学厚度和颗粒大小变化的定量研究的新计算机模型、以及利用闪光图案研究海浪坡度统计数据。

This grant is for travel support for six or more researchers from the U.S. to participate in the 12th International Conference on Light and Color in Nature in Granada, Spain. For 38 years, researchers from around the world have been gathering at approximately three-year intervals to share the latest results of their investigations into optical phenomena observed in nature. These meetings have done much for enhancing science and education in atmospheric optics and related fields by being the foremost (and virtually only) forum for reporting advances in atmospheric and environmental optics. This meeting has been particularly successful at motivating archival research papers and popular articles, films, and books on the subject of optics in nature. Each meeting is followed by a Light and Color in the Open Air feature issue of the Journal of the Optical Society of America or Applied Optics. In 2001, the Optical Society of America published a CD collection of the papers from the first 25 years of these conferences. Each conference includes a public session for K-12 students and teachers, typically attracting 200-300 outside attendees. Significantly motivated by the opportunities and interactions provided by these meetings, numerous participants have published books reaching out to people from scientists to the general public.The topics addressed at the meeting include, but are not entirely limited to, the following: rainbows, ice crystal halos, glories, coronas, iridescence, sky color, atmospheric visibility, refraction effects, contrast phenomena, noctilucent clouds, optics of lightning, auroras, colors created by absorption and scattering in water and air, color and light in water and on water surfaces, iridescence and colors in biology and geology. Examples of recent publications from these meetings include the first documented photographs of the 3rd- and 4th-order rainbows, an explanation of new halo formations, measurement of coronas in ice clouds, a general theory for ice-crystal halo formation, model and experimental verification of halo polarization through ice birefringence, new computer models for quantitative studies of color variation with cloud optical depth and particle sizes, and the use of glitter patterns to study ocean-wave slope statistics.