Have you seen it? The thread on sunsets got me thinking.

Yup a Beach facing the Gulf of Mexico is 5 miles from my house

The things we don't see because we don't look....

When I first met my wife, she had never seen a comet, or the moons around Jupiter, of the rings around Saturn. She had never seen a meteor streak across the sky, or a wild turkey standing in a field. These things aren't just on TV, they are all around us, just look.

But the Green Flash is something you truly can't see every day, have to be there, right conditions, etc.

I've read about it .................. never been in the right place and time to see it.........yet!!!

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Laus Deo! <><

I have, but only once, though I look for it every time I am at the Oregon coast with clear conditions.

Yes, off Sanibel, Captiva Islands.
There is a restaurant named that also.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Saw it here in the remote Utah desert just last week. Was standing out front, talking to a neighbor, when about 45 degrees to my vision I saw a flash at sunset. The sun had just gone below the horizon. I mentioned it to the neighbor. He caught the flash in his vision too, but had never heard of the green flash. Now he's a believer. I'd never seen it before, but now I have! Kewl!

Never saw it, but drained a considerable number of Corona bottles at the seawall on Cozumel waiting for it!

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John

I work aboard ship and find it much more common than is generally thought.
A few tips
Atmosphere needs to be clear and portion of horizon where sun sets needs to be cloud-free.
Flash appears as a "bubble" on top of sun's upper limb (top edge) just as it's tangent to the horizon. Don't stare at the setting sun, I believe the brightness will interfere w/color perception. I do quick glances at the sun as it goes down, just as the sun's upper limb approaches tangency to the horizon I'll then watch. Sometimes I use binnoculars. Trick is not to start watching too soon.
Gatofeo's sighting makes sense, he wasn't staring at the sun prior to it happening.
Using celestial nav tables I've precomputed time and azimuth of sunrise then waited. A couple of times I've caught it then.
A couple of times I've seen it w/moonset (much more subtle) and once when Venus set.
Happy Watching, Kevin
Capt Jack, my nav-astronomy professor, would be amazed I've not only retained this stuff but still find it interesting.
Happy Watching, Kevin

I was wondering if some Squids or Coasties would be chiming in.

The only time I saw it, I wasn't looking for it, or knew anything about it. I was "Haze Gray & Underway" and in perfect location and conditions. As I had nothing to do on board (non-Navy), I was hanging out at the rail at sunset. Just as/after the big ball disappeared, there it was. I didn't think much about it till later when some of the ocifers were talking about it over dinner. Then I realized what I had just seen (Thanks, Uncle Sam!).

m1gunner,
Although at one time I did guard the coast I'm a merchant mariner these days.
In the course of my career I've seen some wild stuff.
Went over 20yrs w/out any whale strikes, then on a 42day Far-East trip we wrapped 2 whales around the stem of an 840' ship. Young 3rd Mate was good w/computers, leaned out and took a photo of one, played around on the computer w/the image and produced a poster w/the photo and caption "Only Pussies Use Harpoons."
We wanted to paint a couple whale symbols on the bridge wings but the Old Man wouldn't go for it.
We do avoid hitting whales, these strikes were at night.
Kevin

I understood it was only visible over water and an atmospheric reaction between the blue of the water and the yellow of the sun. The Jefferson river isn't quite wide enough to get it.

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Front sight and squeeze

It is a light bending (refraction) mechanism. Remember ROYGBIV ? Visible with the right atmospheric conditions and a good distant horizon, but more often seen in the tropics.

I just read that an even more rare variant is the Blue Flash. More rare because conditions that permit the green flash can still scatter the blue wavelengths such that they aren't visible.

The only green flash I ever saw was the northern lights in Alaska.