Solar Halo Over Antarctica

After spending some time on Pleneau Island, it was time to hop into the zodiacs for an iceberg cruise before making it back to the ship. A nearby zodiac, led by the staff photographer had spotted this solar halo. This would be my first and only solar halo I've seen to date. I've seen a moon halo before, and overall, it's the same concept.

The halo effect is caused by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. This is pretty similar to a rainbow, except rainbows are caused by light interacting with water droplets and not ice crystals. More accurately, this type of halo is known as a 22° halo, which can be seen more often than rainbows. Although, living in sunny California, it might not appear to be so common.

Circular Halo appears above an iceberg in Antarctica.