I took this picture the day before yesterday, when Amy and I went on a lengthy bike ride — first of the season! My crappy cell phone camera doesn’t even begin to capture the depth of colour that was in the sunset. And, when I tried to take some pics with Amy in the foreground, it white-balanced on her face, and further washed out the vibrant reds, oranges and yellows of the sunset.
Really, it was incredible.
Because we live in the Prairies, we’re often blessed by wonderful sunsets, and people who visit here can be taken aback. But lately it’s seemed extra-beautiful — and I just found out why. It’s lingering effects from the eruption of Mt. Redoubt, in Alaska. The dust in the air makes sunsets more spectacular than normal:
The brilliant reds and orange of a sunset come from the way sunlight is scattered by particles in the air. Mount Redoubt’s eruption released aerosols, sulphuric acid and tiny particles of dust into the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere 20 to 30 kilometres above the earth’s surface.
The presence of those fine particles so high in the sky means the colours can linger longer after the sun has already set, a phenomenon known as an afterglow.
“You need a volcano that has the energy to inject that fine aerosol and those particles into the high atmosphere,” [University of Winnipeg geography professor Bill] Buhay said. “Normally the mixing happens in the lower atmosphere.”
As an aside: One of my earliest memories is hearing my mom talk about the dust caused by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, and remarking that at least it would lead to beautiful sunsets.
Grant Hamilton
2 Responses to “Great sunsets, thanks volcano!”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
That picture turned out pretty well on your crappy phone camera! Also, I had no idea a volcano erupted recently, causing our dusky sky. Cool!
It’s the volcano that I blogged about before — but I also didn’t put two and two together, so it came as a surprise to me, too.
(I was impressed by the camera, too. I almost photoshopped it to bring out the colours more, but I decided to leave it alone.)