Sky and rainbow background
New research suggests climate change could bring with it more rainbows. A novel study, published by a team of researchers in the journal Global Environmental Change, estimates a roughly 4 to 5% increase in the average number of worldwide rainbow days by the year 2100. That’s the number of days per year with conditions favorable for rainbow formation.
Global climate change is of course predicted to have significant downsides, including more wildfires, droughts, extreme temperatures, flooding, and climate refugees, just to name a few problems. We should not downplay these dangers. However, it is also worth noting that there can be positives sprinkled among the negatives, including even benefits to our natural environment and human wellbeing.
The authors of the study used a unique research strategy, which involved downloading more than 100,000 images of rainbows off of the photo-sharing website Flickr, and then capturing information about locations and local weather conditions using machine learning and other methods.
Currently, the global distribution of rainbow conditions is far from equal. Areas around the poles and deserts, such as in the Middle East, tend to experience fewer rainbow days than more coastal, tropical areas, such as southern Liberia or eastern Nicaragua.
More rainbows could materialize in the future due to factors such as increased precipitation and reduced cloud cover. The areas most likely to gain rainbow days are those at higher latitudes and high elevation. A good example is the Tibetan plateau. Some of these areas are associated with smaller human populations. Nevertheless, the authors still predict the average person will have more opportunities to observe rainbows in 2100 when compared to 2000.
All told, 21 to 34% of land areas are predicted to lose rainbow days, while 66 to 79% will gain rainbow days, meaning not all areas will be affected equally, thus highlighting a substantial rainbow redistribution.
The implications go beyond scenery. The authors of the study note that rainbows inspire a connection to nature, thereby contributing to human welfare.
Rainbows have come to be a sign of gay pride (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images).
Rainbows have a special place in cultural myths and folklore. In Estonian mythology, for example, stories exist about a rainbow serpent that sucks up water on land and then spits it back down to earth in the form of rain. In the Bible, a rainbow served to symbolize a promise of protection made by God to Noah after the great flood. And of course, who could forget the pot of gold that’s said to lie at the end of the rainbow, guarded by a lucky leprechaun?
Rainbows also have an association with bridges and archer’s bows. In recent times, the rainbow has come to be a symbol of gay pride, representing openness and tolerance. That said, associations with rainbows are not uniformly positive. The authors note that in some cultures, a rainbow is a foreboding sign, such as in parts of Southeast Asia where it is associated with a demon that eats children.
With climate change comes anxiety and concern about the future, and this study won’t change any of that. But it’s somewhat of a relief to find research highlighting a silver lining, even if we expect the overall effects of global warming to be decidedly negative. Who among us doesn’t get excited at the sight of a rainbow? No matter the challenges, there are some reasons we should be looking up, quite literally.
