According to the Bureau of Meteorology in Victoria, the bushfires in Australia are now so significant that they are generating their weather, in the form of giant thunderstorms that start more fires.
Bushfires Generate Their Weather
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Pyro-cumulonimbus clouds have developed to altitudes over 16km in East Gippsland this afternoon. These fire-induced storms can spread fires through lightning, lofting of embers, and the generation of severe wind outflows. Intense fires generate smoke. But their heat can also create a localized updraft powerful enough to create its changes in the atmosphere above.
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As the heat and smoke rise, the cloud plume can cool off, generating a large, puffy cloud full of potential rain. The plume can also scatter embers and hot ash over a full area. Eventually, water droplets in the cloud condense, generating a downburst of rain – maybe. But the ‘front’ between the calm air outside the fire zone and a pyro cumulonimbus storm cloud is so sharp that it also generates lightning, and that can start new fires. If powerful enough, a pyro cumulonimbus storm can generate a fire tornado, which happened during the Canberra bushfires in 2003.
How bushfires can make their own weather
Why do Pyrocumulus clouds rise above the smoke?
This moisture then accumulates on smoke particles and rapidly condenses as it rises. Pyrocumulus clouds are more commonly seen above volcanic eruptions, which produce lots of steam. If you've ever seen an evil-looking cloud creating dry lightning above a volcano, that's a pyrocumulus cloud.
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Scientists worry that ‘pyroCbs’ are on the rise worldwide, driven by warmer temperatures and more intense fires. Their plumes are so strong that they can even shoot smoke into the stratosphere, 6 to 30 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.
What types of clouds are associated with wildfires?
Simply put, it is a cumulus cloud that is formed by hot air and smoke being released into the sky, usually during volcanic eruptions, or in Australia’s case, by wildfires. The clouds are usually gray, black or brown
Smoke From Bushfires In Australia Has Spread To South America
Smoke particles from bushfires in Australia have reached South America, strikingly illustrating the intensity of the unprecedented blazes.
Satellites show atmospheric pollution created by the fires across New South Wales, and Queensland has traveled more than 10,000 kilometers to Chile and Argentina. Researchers at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading, UK, found a plume of carbon monoxide and aerosols trailing across the Pacific Ocean to South America.
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More pollution will follow, judging from the situation in Australia. There’s thick smoke coming out of New South Wales from satellite imagery, so more will be being pumped out, meaning a train of pollution going across the South Pacific will follow the jet stream.
What is jet stream in geography?
A jet stream is defined as a current of rapidly moving air that is usually several thousand miles long and wide but is relatively thin. They are found in the upper levels of Earth's atmosphere at the tropopause - the boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere (see atmospheric layers).
While it is relatively unusual for pollution to travel so far, studies have shown Australia’s deadly 2009 “Black Saturday” fires released materials that traveled a similar distance. Only trace amounts of Australian pollution hitting South America have been recorded today by satellites, with carbon monoxide levels of 80 to 100 parts per billion. Anything above 110ppb is considered polluted air.
Australia’s deadly 2009 'Black Saturday' fires
However, it is unlikely the pollution will affect local air quality in South America, which has experienced its serious forest fires this year since it is around 5 kilometers up in the atmosphere and is likely to stay there. If the air comes down and reaches the surface, it could add an extra bit on top of local air quality issues.
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Instead, the significance of the pollution reaching so far is what it tells us about the fires' power in Australia. It’s reflecting the sheer intensity of the fires, particularly in New South Wales.
Smoke From Bushfires In Australia Reach New Zealand
Across the Tasman Sea, smoke from the wildfires poses a new threat to New Zealand’s white glaciers, turning them black and staining snow brown.
Social media posts from tourists and helicopter services from the Franz Josef and Tasman glaciers show 'caramelized' snow and smoke-shrouded views. A climber posted a video from the top of the Tasman glacier added: “We can smell the burning here in Christchurch.”
Ash from the smoke could accelerate melting snow on the glaciers, which already face a climate disaster of their own. The whiteness of snow and ice reflects the sun’s heat and slows melting, but as ash and dust settle on the snow, it absorbs more heat and melts at a faster rate.
How does the albedo effect work?
The albedo effect. Light surfaces reflect more heat than dark surfaces. This is called the albedo effect. When the Earth's temperature dropped because of its position in orbit around the Sun, and the tilt of the axis, the ice sheets grew.
Over 3,000 glaciers in New Zealand are quickly disappearing due to global warming, and many could completely melt away by the end of the century. If the ash stays on the surface, then it will undoubtedly enhance melt. If fire frequency, ash, and dust transport increase, there is a chance that this will hasten the demise of New Zealand’s glaciers.
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