Why has the sky turned intensely pink in Antarctica?

Scientists based in Antarctica were surprised and very impressed by the almost supernatural colors of the sky around their base in Antarctica, in the middle of the southern night. How can this spectacular phenomenon be explained?

This phenomenon of afterglowcalled “afterglow” in English, was photographed by science technician Stuart Shaw, stationed at Base Scott for a New Zealand research agency. The scientist assures that he did not retouch the colors in the photos and that the event is all the more extraordinary that at this time of the year, winter in the southern hemispherethe sky of theAntarctic is completely dark for much of the day.

Exactly as in the case of skies of fire which sometimes occur anywhere in the world during the passage of a thunderstorm or shower clouds at sunset Sun, the more particles in the atmosphere, the more spectacular the colors. In the case of Antarctica, these are aerosols from the Tonga volcano, mainly sulphate. This is a underwater volcano, which also ejected water vapor, in addition to dust. All this matter in the atmosphere allows the light of the sun to diffuse more, and in a more flamboyant way.

Aerosols from a volcanic eruption can travel through the atmosphere for months. © Stuart Show/Fly On The Wall

Pink skies appeared six months after the volcanic eruption

The eruption of the Tonga volcano occurred in January and yet it was only several months after that the sky changed color to New Zealand, then to Antarctica. Aerosols can indeed circulate in the atmosphere for months after an eruption, and thus have incredible consequences on the color of the sky of the neighboring regions for long periods intermittently: the eruption of the Tonga volcano occurred at 7,000 kilometers from the base in Antarctica where these photos were taken!