NASA confirms bushfire smoke circles globe and returns to Australian skies

NASA has detected that smoke from the devastating bushfires has circled the globe and returned to Australian soil today. This is why it’s happening.

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Smoke from the Australian bushfires has not only affected skies and air quality in cities abroad – it has circled the globe and returned to home soil.

It entered the airspace of the south of Western Australia overnight, according to NASA Goddard’s Colin Seftor.

As seen by yesterday's #SNPP #OMPS aerosol index the #AustraliaFires smoke is now south of western Australia (black circle). Of note: the smoke is pretty much continuous. Also of note: the AI signal in central Australia is dust from a massive dust storm, not smoke. pic.twitter.com/W9aNsoBnPp

— Colin Seftor (@colin_seftor) January 13, 2020

The research scientist confirmed the smoke’s movement, which was lofted more than 15 kilometres high with the formation of an unusually large number of pyrocumulonimbus (pryCbs) events – essentially fire-induced thunderstorms, triggered by the uplift of smoke, ash and burning material.

A fleet of NASA satellites 🛰️ working together has been analyzing the aerosols and smoke from the massive fires burning in Australia.https://t.co/93geNvCBnU pic.twitter.com/ZedZ199lvJ

— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) January 9, 2020

PryCbs events provide a pathway for smoke to reach the stratosphere – more than 16 kilometres in altitude – which enables smoke to travel thousands of kilometres.

Since bushfires kicked-off in September 2019, the smoke has darkened New Zealand skies, affected its air quality and left brown sooty deposits on its glaciers.

This the view from the top of the Tasman Glacier NZ today - whole South island experiencing bushfire clouds. We can actually smell the burning here in Christchurch. Thinking of you guys. 😢#nswbushfire #AustralianFires #AustraliaBurning pic.twitter.com/iCzOGkou4o

— Miss Roho (@MissRoho) January 1, 2020

The smoke and its effects have caused many to take to social media to express their heartbreak for Australia and displeasure on the impacts on their country.

I want to give some perspective for people not from Australia.
More Aussie land is currently burning than exists in the entire country of Belgium. The smoke is causing breathing problems in New Zealand, 2,000km away. Half a billion animals have been killed. Eight people are dead.

— Mollie Davidson (@MollieD70226796) January 11, 2020

NASA is predicting smoke from the country's devastating #bushfires will make it all the way around the world, with the potential to move over Australian skies again in the coming days.#AustralianFires #AustraliaBurning

📷 Smoke from the bushfires blankets Dunedin, New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/ndB3CpP0wR

— Fiona Bateman (@feebateman) January 13, 2020

The smoke is turning New Zealand glaciers brown. This is v likely hastening their melt this year bc darker ice absorbs more heat.@VargoLauren, who is studying old aerial photos of the glaciers, told me she hasn't seen anything like it before.@Rachelhatesit took this wow photo pic.twitter.com/5fQq5IycqD

— Maddie Stone (@themadstone) January 10, 2020

The skies in central Chile have also turned grey, and in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires they became red.

By January 8, NASA confirmed the smoke had travelled halfway around the world.

Smoke from the #AustraliaFires has traveled in the atmosphere via the jet stream all the way to #SouthAmerica, ~7000 miles away
[Graphic: NASA aerosol analyses across the Pacific during the past 5 days and visible satellite imagery today over #Chile & #Argentina] pic.twitter.com/DdnPc5jnUK

— Stu Ostro (@StuOstro) January 6, 2020

Speaking about the satellite data from the OMPS-NM instrument – used to create an ultraviolet aerosol index to track the aerosol and smoke – Mr Seftor said “the aerosol index values produced by some of the Australian pryCbs events have rivalled that largest values ever recorded.”

Close up look at #SNPP #OMPS AI for orbit 42546 (earlier today) showing complicated situation over Australia. Circumnavigated smoke is circled in black, current (or recent) smoke is circled in red, and dust is circled in blue. Note use of different color scale. pic.twitter.com/tubeksJlUt

— Colin Seftor (@colin_seftor) January 13, 2020

NASA’s satellite instruments are often the first to detect wildfires burning in remote regions.

The locations of new fires are land managers globally within hours of the satellite overpass, NASA states.

#AustraliaFires as seen from the International Space Station. "Lives, hopes, dreams in ashes," says @astro_luca pic.twitter.com/nFCr6sFdHo

— WMO | OMM (@WMO) January 13, 2020

“The UV index has a characteristic that is particularly well suited for identifying and tracking smoke from pryCbs events: the higher the smoke plume, the larger the aerosol index value. Values over 10 are often associated with such events,” Mr Seftor said.

Originally published as NASA confirms bushfire smoke circles globe and returns to Australian skies