Sunsets in Israel are spectacular year-round, but some say they reach their peak of perfection during September and the autumn months. As the days grow shorter, the sunset skies radiate with the most extraordinary hues, glowing with vivid reds, pinks and oranges.
According to Prof. Pinhas Alpert of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geosciences, Israel can thank dust blown in from its neighboring deserts for the particularly stunning sunsets this time of year.
“Autumn is typified by the Red Sea Trough, a system that involves winds coming from the east. More recently, there are more dust particles that come from the deserts of Jordan and Syria and Saudi Arabia,” Alpert tells ISRAEL21c. “These desert particles scatter and absorb the light and cause the red sunset.”
The more dust particles there are in the air, the more the light is scattered as it travels through the atmosphere.
“During sunset, the sun’s rays have a long path to travel through the atmosphere. It is about 40 times longer than at noon. The light is scattered along the way, over several hundred kilometers, which is then seen so beautifully,” Alpert explains.
To kick off Israel’s prime sunset season, we’ve compiled 10 vibrant shots of sunsets in Israel, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the edge of the Ramon Crater.
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