Light at the coast - is it different? I have heard artists talk about the unique quality of light near the sea, and now I live near the coast I want to know if there's any truth in it. Does being near the ocean affect light inland?

I'm in the UK, where it's not usually  clear blue skies; it's cloudy or partially cloudy (clouds may have an effect?).

I've lived in a flattish region in the centre of the UK, and at the coast. I think it's brighter here, but I can't figure out if it's a real difference. And Google is silent.

I've come up with possible explanations:


It's purely psychological
It's a side-effect of the big horizons making places feel lighter because more sky is visible
Sunlight reflects off the sea, and the clouds scatter it back onto the land


Is this real? If so, what's the mechanism and how far inland does the light penetrate?
At the coast the horizon facing the ocean is unobstructed, so a larger part of the sky is visible than inland, where trees, buildings, etc., block the view of the horizon. Also, the horizon sky is brighter than the overhead sky. At or near the horizon the sky appears lighter blue than at the zenith, or even whitish. Looking vertically at the zenith is looking through one air mass; looking horizontally at the horizon is looking through 40 air masses. Although the atmosphere scatters short wavelengths at the violet end of the spectrum most effectively, 40 air masses scatters enough of even the longer red wavelengths that the horizon sky appears very light blue or even whitish. 40 air masses is enough to scatter all of the light. Greater scattering of light causes the near-horizon sky to be brighter. (Even the zenith sky appears blue rather than violet because the Sun emits more blue light than violet and the eye is more sensitive to blue light than violet.)