Blood Red Sky

[ardypilot]

Blood-red skies heading our way

The fearsome volcanic eruption in Chile has spawned a spectacular lightning show and should bring blood-red skies to New Zealand.

Thousands of Chileans fled their homes after the previously dormant Chaiten volcano, near the border with Argentina, erupted two days ago, spewing ash and lava. GNS Science senior geophysicist Tony Hurst said the lightning show was the result of tiny ash particles colliding and creating static electricity. "Eventually, the entire cloud turns into a colossal battery and the electricity is discharged as a gigantic spark." Dr Hurst said Kiwis were likely to see some evidence of the eruption because Chile was on a similar latitude to New Zealand, but the effects would be limited to red skies at dusk, caused by ash particles suspended high in the stratosphere, scattering red light.

The red skies might take a week to appear in New Zealand, as the ash was travelling east from Chile, and would have to pass over South Africa and Australia to get here.

Dr Hurst said the eruption was a timely reminder of the power of the dormant volcanoes scattered across New Zealand.

It is thought the Chaiten volcano may have been dormant for thousands of years, though historical records are sketchy. "All over the Taupo volcanic area, a lot of them are a few thousand years old. It's not a rare thing for a volcano that no one has ever heard of to suddenly erupt."

The enormous, slow-moving plume of ash spread over Argentinian skiresort Bariloche, 230 kilometres northeast of the volcano, and ash particles were found as far away as Mar del Plata, 1600km to the east.

Authorities were worried airborne ash particles might reach Buenos Aires, raising health concerns for about eight million people. Chile's National Emergency Office said people had been moved from a 30km radius of the volcano.

Should make for some good photography!

[pois0n]

I thought this was pretty cool

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/05/07/li...volcano-images/

[victor_alpha_charlie]

Erm- How does the Ash travel from Chile to NZ vis South Africa? NZ's like halfway in between th two

Should be great to see if it's not raining here

[Jimmy]

It must travel east in the west winds, all the way around, couldn't go the other because of the wind.

Will look out for it.

Thanks
James

[ardypilot]

Who pissed Mother Nature of recently?

Just within the last month we have seen the eruption of Chaiten volcano, the devastating cyclone in Burma, and now today, the massive earthquake in China!

Still no red skies over Auckland though...

[Peppermint]

Check the skies again tomorrow, They're getting red..er down south!

[Mattnz]

QUOTE (Peppermint @ May 13 2008, 07:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Check the skies again tomorrow, They're getting red..er down south!

If you can see the red through the grey

[brownbox]

I havn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Nor have i been looking out for it. (although i do work outside until after it gets dark). Just wondering, wouldnt we see red sky at dawn too?

[ardypilot]

Ok, well a good 7 days on and no red skies... however, did anyone see the moon last night from Auckland? It was really weird... there was a massive perfect circle around it, a much lighter colour inside and then normal black sky outside- maybe something to do with the fog, but it still looked pretty buzzy!

[Charl]

I'm clearly in know-it-all mood tonight - ring is formed by fine high-altitude ice crystal formation, and is supposed to forebode foul weather...

[Ian Warren]

RED MOON ..... Russian invasion !

[pois0n]

QUOTE (Trolly @ May 21 2008, 07:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok, well a good 7 days on and no red skies... however, did anyone see the moon last night from Auckland? It was really weird... there was a massive perfect circle around it, a much lighter colour inside and then normal black sky outside- maybe something to do with the fog, but it still looked pretty buzzy!

Snapped this in christchurch on monday