Purple Sky
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Two volcanoes erupted last spring was it,Raikoke in the Kuril Islands(Russia) andUlawun in New Guinea . They pushed tons of tons of ash into the atmosphere which has now spread around the world turning our sunsets the color purple.
I live in Phoenix Arizona USA around 33 degrees north latitude and I have been seeing some really purple sunsets. So today , even with little cloud cover at sunset, I took some pics of the sky after the sun was below the horizon. It was purple. Below is a shot taken from backyard.
Is it possible to get pictures of purple sunsets from all over the world? If you have a smart phone camera, a pocket camera, or a sophisticated camera grab a photo of the sky between the sun going below the horizon and final darkness and post the photo here with location. It might be interesting to see similarities as well as variations. Its true all cameras will not record the same . Yet I think purple is purple and the sky will show purple if its there. It might be interesting to see changes in intensity with latitude. Maybe CAS can contribute to a scientific record…or not. Anyway it could be fun as well as interesting to see what purple sky looks like all around the world..Let me start with this shot..The only processing I did to this photo was cropping a bit of the excess black off the bottom. Lets see Your Shot!
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I checked my Hampshire UK sky at twilight tonight in vain, Michael – clear with a pleasant pinkish horizon. I have not heard about this and I missed Paul Simons’ column:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/volcanic-eruptions-cause-an-amazing-twilight-spectacle-dzqbzqlwp
Wrt Keelin’s question a Google search for ‘UK purple sky’ produced:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46467988
N.B. Michael’s purple is unquestionable, but some other pictures may not be
P.S. (I had to click Windows F5 to get this Edit function). Searching the ICA in the first permanent thread above for ‘purple’ gave:
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Keelin..Yes, according to what I’ve read and what hygge linked to ,sunrises should also be affected. Im use to the yellow ro orange to red slide in to dark against a ever darkening blue. So just a quick look during late sundown provides a startling change,purple! Not every dusk is the same intensity. I can’t speak for sunrises since I have been forcing myself to sleep in . I may have to give it a look at least once tho.
That photo I posted is very close to what my memory says I saw. As the one link hygge provided, there is a yellow that is slitely dulled or darkened by the purple from the horizon then the purple. I suspect if people had a clear ” before” picture of a sunset sky and took one today they would see a difference even if they didn’t ” see” any purple.
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Nice purples Michael. I found a good explanation about the color purple: Purple sky by volcano dust.
I don’t have any volcanoes nearby so no purples over here. I had a lot of sunsets with clear blue skies and the colors were spectacular but no purples. I hope to upload one soon but my problem with recognizing my camera by the laptop is back again. I have to solve that issue first. Grrrr.
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Michael, yesterday I saw a new APOD on atoptics with examples in Europe (Germany) of volcanic skies:
It contains also a great explanation and I learned that also in Europe the pheneomenon of purple skies was visible. I took some pictures of the twilight in France on three different days. A good reason to check them.
September 13th 2019 (105 mm)
September 18th 2019 (60 mm)
September 20th 2019 (41 mm)
All three unprocessed pictures. The second and third picture seem to show some purples from volcanic aerosols. Any opinion?
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Hans,Yes..if there is purple in the sunset the camera will pick it up unless you are telling it not to ( pre programming). There is a timing element as well ..like 3 to 6 minutes after the sun goes beneath the horizon etc..The exposure of the camera can deepen the purple somewhat but the natural diminishing of light eventually equals the purple of the shot.And now,,a busy volcano in Mexico,Popocatepeti 50 klicks from Mexico City, has begun erupting just yesterday. Even more aerosols!
I’ve noticed the purple varies from day to day. Rain seems to clear the sky for a day . But the purple seems to be present even if as just a thin halo between the yellow and the dark blue. The ” Veil of Venus” is now more violet than pinkish. Thats what first caught my attention, was how much altered the Veil appeared.
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The colors are great Michael. With the forelast picture you mentioned a brush fire in the desert. The last few days I saw dramatic images of the fires in California on the news over here. Is this something of which you can observe the consequences in Arizona? I hope for Keelin she and her surroundings are not suffering from the chaos and danger these enormous fires cause.
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Hans..Yes, This last weekend there was a day that began with faint pyro stratus in the a.m. The pyro thickened into the afternoon, then the winds shifted and by dusk , no clouds, clear sky except a bit of purple after sundown. I’ve seen worse pollution from California fires but I hope to never see any again.
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