The reflection of the sunset on the water is redder--Why?

[wilddouglascounty]

I presume that some kind of absorption occurs when the sunset is reflected on the water, but can anyone describe this in more detail?

 

[.Scott]

Next time you see this, have a set of polarizing sun glasses on hand. I suspect you will discover that the horizontally polarized lunset is redder than the vertically polarized sunset. When light makes a shallow reflection of any surface, the reflection of light polarized parallel to the surface is favored.