Here we see Great Cove a few days ago, restless in her finest silver-stitched silk. She’s in one of her “ocean glitter” moods, a light-manipulating phenomenon that has attracted scientists and poets for centuries.
The sun must be at the right angle, the water must be moving at the right speed, and we must be in the right place to get the full glittering effect. The small waves break the Cove’s reflective surface like the shattering of a mirror, each broken piece reflecting the sun.
If the water were virtually still and the sun at the right angle, the Cove surface would be an intact mirror that reflects clouds and islands.
If the sun were low and the water moving slowly, the maritime mirror could be distorted and a narrower “glitter path” might reach out to us. Here’s one near dawn at Naskeag Harbor:
(Brooklin, Maine)