Why Australia is getting amazing red and orange sunsets vividly across Instagram, and how they will continue one more YEAR
- Australia’s spectacular recent sunsets have a scientific explanation
- Scientists say colorful sunrises and sunsets could last another year
- Ashes, sulfates and water vapor in the stratosphere creating vivid colors
By Padraig Collins for Daily Mail Australia
Posted: 07:30, 26 June 2022 | Updated: 7:30 AM, June 26, 2022
Australians who have wondered why there have been such spectacular sunsets across the country in recent months have been surprised to discover the sad reason for them.
Scientists revealed that beautiful sunsets and sunrises are a side effect of the devastating eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai submarine volcano in January.
It was the largest explosion in more than three decades and killed at least six people in Tonga and 19 were injured, causing an estimated $ 130 million in damage.
As Tonga continues to recover from the natural disaster, Australia’s most spectacular sunrises and sunsets could last another year, thanks to ash, sulphates and water vapor in the stratosphere.
Australians have been experiencing spectacular sunrises and sunsets in recent months, such as this one at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
After the volcano erupted on January 15, NASA analyzes showed that it erupted through the first two layers of the atmosphere – the troposphere and stratosphere – and the third layer, the mesosphere.
At its peak it reached 58 km above the earth and its effects are still seen in Australia.
University of Melbourne atmospheric chemist Robyn Schofield said the eruption sent ash, sulphates and water vapor into the stratosphere, with about three times more aerosols than normal.
Mrs Schofield said all of these elements almost certainly contributed to what Australians see in the sky late at night and very early in the morning.
“Atmospheric particles generally provide a surface to disperse and it is the scattering of light that causes our beautiful sunsets and sunrises,” he told the ABC.
“So what happens is that the troposphere is all in the shade and about 20 or 25 minutes after sunset, most of the light is scattering through the stratosphere and into our eyes.”
Schofield said Australians were still seeing the effects in the night and morning sky because the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption was the largest since Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991.
Photographer Ilona Diessner said there were bright orange tones at sunrises and sunsets where she has lived in Western Australia in recent times.
The sun sets over Brisbane seen from the top of Mount Coot-Tha on June 6, 2022
The Sydney Opera House, the harbor and the city skyline are seen at dusk on March 14, 2022
The sky had many more pink and purple colors last year in Albany, on the south coast of WA.
“I’ve noticed that sunrises are as colorful as sunsets, which I didn’t see much of last year,” he said.
The time it takes for air to circulate, moving south to Antarctica is also a factor in making the intense colors Australians look for in the sky, Ms said. Schofield.
An injection of material takes about 12 days to go around the world, and it also has to move slowly towards the poles and out.
“And this upside-down circulation, which will remove material from the stratosphere, will take between three and five years,” he said.
View of the Melbourne skyline at sunset on Friday 17 June 2022. Australia’s spectacular sunsets in recent months have been linked to the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai submarine volcano at gener