Beautiful Aerial Footage of a Clear Turquoise Blue Waterfall in the Rainforest of Costa Rica

While in the rainforest of Costa Rica, prolific wildlife photographer David Weiller (previously) captured absolutely beautifully aerial footage of a sparkling clear bright turquoise blue waterfall that splashed down from a green mountain high above.

Winding through the rainforest of Costa Rica, these bright blue waterfalls and rivers make one feel as if this was a fairy tale.

As it turns out, this gorgeous color is due to the scattering of overly large aluminosilicate particles, known as Mie, that reflect the blue light of the spectrum.

The rivers upstream are not blue and they contain a large concentration of whitish mineral particles known as aluminosilicate (composed of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen). The volcanic activity increases the acidity to high levels and in some stretches of the river, this causes the aluminosilicate particles to reach a diameter of 566nm (instead of 184nm), allowing the sunlight to scatter in the blue lightwave of the spectrum). These particles produce Mie scattering which gives the river its turquoise blue color.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips