Fresnel Haze

I wander through the world of engineering like an old beachcomber, pulling baubles from the sand where my work-mates would rather I was digging a deep hole of knowledge in one spot. Today I discovered fresnel zones and a fascinating insight. A fresnel cone influences how radio waves are disturbed by the ground beneath the signal, even if there is an uninterrupted line from the transmitter to the receiver. Counter-intuitively, the lay of the land can interfere with or even amplify the signal.

It seems to me that haze works in the same way. Though the light from a distant object passes directly to your eye, the surrounding landscape can influence the quality and colour of what you see. Can the ground create haze even if the air is supposedly clear? Can the presence of low cloud force light out of phase, dulling the view? Can a clear sky actually detract from the clarity of the horizon?

A series of experiments presents itself.  Do the colours of seascapes vary in intensity according to whether the breeze is on- or off-shore? The same may apply to other water landscapes. What about a dry field against a wet one. Does it intensify the colour of the sky or wash it out? When sunlight comes under hanging cloud, is it the colour of the cloud which creates that particular intensity or is the cloud amplifying the colours of the landscape. Does the light over a city, with its vertical surfaces, behave differently to light over a cement coloured landscape - The Burren for example. Is the light over a forest different to the light over a marsh, or a field of green, cloned, crops? How do these factors meld with the more obvious effects of reflected colour? Does rain depress a landscape because of the way that the falling drops reflect the light? Is this why wood is more pleasing to the eye than less natural, textured surfaces? Might these things be manipulated for artistic effect?