"Rose Stratocumuli Clouds" (RSCC)
Rose, red or yellow tinted low stratus or cumulus clouds (even the fog) have been observed over the Africa and the Gulf of Guinea between +10° and -10 ° latitude, from the mid June to mid September (most in the south of the equator) and from the mid November to January (mostly northern of it).
Rarely such clouds were observed slightly further south (to 30 ° S) and east (over the East Africa).
The colour of the clouds is indeed a result of the image representation (false colour), however, demonstrates the different nature of these clouds.
It is indicated in the channel 13 of the MERIS sensor.
The reason for this difference is not clear to me.
- One of them could be the sun angle at which the sun radiation is reflected from low-lying clouds in a such particular way.
- The second reason may depend on specific aerosols properties, which can not absorb this wavelength of light, but reflect it; notice that these clouds were observed only about Africa (mostly West Africa).
The clouds that lie higher, above the red ones, have "normal" white colours.
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