There Is Always a Surprise It Seems

I dropped by the pond yesterday to try to find an unusually large dragonfly I saw a couple of days ago but was unable to get a photograph of. The weather was bright and sunny, but I could see the towering cloud banks looming. Still, it didn't look like any serious rain was likely in the next hour or so and I kept looking for that dragonfly and taking a few shots here and there.

Eventually I felt the rain start. It was just a few drops, nothing serious. I could tell it would probably be one of those sunshine showers we get often in the summertime. Sometimes on a bright, hot day a rain cloud will pass directly over and produce a small shower while the sun is still brightly shining and often the rain does not last long at all.

Immediately I noticed an unusual phenomenon. I've seen it before, but not too often. When the initial drops of rain hit the pond many of them created bubbles that floated on top for a minute or more.
Initially I wasn't overly surprised as I have seen this before to a limited degree. Within a minute or so, though, I was amazed. The shower continued in rather widely spaced raindrops and before I knew it the pond was covered with thousands of bubbles. They seemed to spring up magically.


The whole process only lasted a few minutes. Within maybe 4-5 minutes the shower became a bit heavier and the bubbles began to disappear as fast as they had arrived.

I'm not sure what factors created the bubbles to start with. My guess is that there are several factors that just happen to coincide. For one thing, the pond is not overly large and when the water level is down as it often is during the summer it essentially creates a bowl which is maybe two-thirds full. Also, the pond has trees around 3 sides. These trees and the bowl like shape mean that it takes quite a strong breeze to create any ripples that break the surface. As a result the pond often has a thin sheen of collected pollen,dust, and decaying algae on its surface when we have limited breezes and no rain.

I think the size of the rain droplets were just right to break through and create the bubbles using the sheen much like a soap bubble. And, the lack of any breeze let them float on the surface without breaking. Eventually the increased rain bursts the bubbles and breaks up the surface tension and sheen enough to stop new bubbles from forming.

Whatever the reason, the whole process was amazing and I felt lucky to be there with camera in hand to capture the magic.