Why Australia gets amazing sunsets of bright red and orange that can be seen everywhere on Instagram – and how they will last another YEAR
- Australia’s recent spectacular sunsets have a scientific explanation for them
- Scientists say colorful sunrises and sunsets could continue for another year
- Ash, sulfates and water vapor in the stratosphere create bright colors
By Padreig Collins for the Daily Mail Australia
Posted: 07:30, 26 June 2022 | Updated: 7:30 a.m., June 26, 2022
Australians, wondering why there have been so many spectacular sunsets across the country in recent months, were shocked to find the sad cause.
Scientists have discovered that the beautiful sunsets and sunrises are a consequence of the devastating eruption of the underwater volcano Hongga Tonga-Hongga Haapai in January.
It was the largest explosion in more than three decades and killed at least six people in Tonga with 19 injured and caused damage of approximately $ 130 million.
As Tonga continues to recover from the natural disaster, Australia’s more colorful sunrises and sunsets could continue for another year, thanks to ash, sulfates and water vapor in the stratosphere.
Australians have experienced spectacular sunrises and sunsets in recent months, such as the one over Sydney Bondi Beach
After the eruption of the volcano on January 15, NASA analysis showed that it broke through the first two layers of the atmosphere – the troposphere and stratosphere – and in the third layer, the mesosphere.
At its peak it reaches 58 km above the ground and its effects are still observed in Australia.
Atmospheric chemist at the University of Melbourne Robin Schofield said the eruption sent ash, sulfates and water vapor into the stratosphere with about three times more aerosols than normal.
Ms Schofield said all of these elements almost certainly contribute to what Australians see in the sky late at night and very early in the morning.
“Particles in the atmosphere generally provide a surface for scattering, and it is the scattering of light that causes our beautiful sunsets and sunrises,” she told ABC.
“So what happens is that the troposphere is in the shadows, and about 20 to 25 minutes after sunset, most of the light is scattered from the stratosphere and down into our eyes.”
Ms Schofield said Australians could still see the effects in the night and morning skies because the Tonga-Hung Haapai eruption was the largest since Pinatubo Peak in the Philippines in 1991.
Photographer Ilona Disner said there have been bright shades of orange in the sunrises and sunsets where she lives in Western Australia.
The sun is setting over Brisbane, as seen from the top of Mount Kut-Ta on June 6, 2022.
The Sydney Opera House, the port and the city skyline are visible at sunset on March 14, 2022.
Last year, the sky had many more pink and purple colors in Albany, on the south coast of WA.
“I noticed that the sunrises were as colorful as the sunsets, which I didn’t see much of last year,” she said.
The time it takes for the air to circulate moving south to Antarctica is also a factor in the transformation of the saturated colors that Australians look for in the sky, Ms Schofield said.
It takes about 12 days to orbit the globe injecting material and you also need to move slowly to the poles and get out.
“And this reversal circulation, which will remove material from the stratosphere, will take between three and five years,” she said.
View of Melbourne skyline at sunset on Friday, June 17, 2022. Australia’s spectacular sunsets in recent months have been linked to the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano in January.
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