Australia has always been known for being a hot place, but when you combine record breaking
temperatures with a prolonged drought, this is what you are left with.
A monster wildfire, with a smoke trail that stretches for thousands of kilometres, easily
visible from the Himawari satellite in space.
I’m Alex McColgan, and you’re watching Astrum, and together we will see how this
fire developed from the 30th December to the 3rd January, and explore what impact it’s
had on Australia and the surrounding regions.
Australia’s climate has always been predominantly hot, with a large portion of the continent
being classified as desert.
However, the more east you go, the more Australia tends to get wetter due to the mountain chain
pushing humid air higher.
This means the east of Australia tends to have a more temperate climate.
However, in November of 2019, severe drought meant that even the vegetation in these wetter
areas was completely dried out, exposing the area to heightened risk of fires.
As a result, catastrophic fire warnings were in place around seven regions of Australia,
including the Greater Sydney Area.
Fires had been burning in Australia unusually early already, and by November, the fires
had burned more hectares than the Californian and Amazonian wildfires combined.
By late December, the drought hadn’t let up, and Australia was about to face one of
the most extreme heatwaves it had ever experienced since records began, with average temperatures
exceeding 41c across the continent.
Under such conditions, fires can occur naturally, and the phrase “spread like wildfire”
really holds sway here.
This is how it unfolded.
On the 30th December, smoke from the fires can already be seen from space.
Their tell-tale brown hue separates them from the water vapour clouds alongside them.
The fires burn throughout the night, and come the morning there is already a noticeable
increase in their size.
It was on this day that the military was deployed to some cut off regions to assist the evacuation
of trapped civilians.
The smoke trail now reaches across the Pacific Ocean for at least a thousand kilometres.
Fires continue to burn through the night, and in the morning, it’s clear that the
wind has shifted, and it’s taken the smoke in a more easterly direction, completely blanketing
neighbouring New Zealand.
For some reference, Sydney is around here, and is also completely covered by smoke.
This reduces visibility greatly, but also reduces the quality of the air for people
breathing.
Sydney had the worst air quality out of any city on Earth during this time.
The final day of this time lapse really shows the global effect of such an event.
On this day, the fires are still burning, and the smoke from 4 days ago is still visible
in the air even after dispersing somewhat.
The smoke trail is now thousands of kilometres long.
The fires have died somewhat for now due to torrential rain finally falling, however,
risks of more fires like these have been forecast in the not too distant future unless more
rain falls.
Wildfires are indeed a natural occurrence in Australia; however, none have been seen
on this scale ever.
In total over this season so far, 10,700,000 hectares of land was burnt.
Putting aside the human, biological and political impact these fires have had, as that goes
somewhat outside the scope of this channel, what is most interesting to me are the weather
systems that formed in this smoke.
Most people are aware of cumulonimbus clouds, giant thunderstorm clouds that form from water
vapour.
With the presence of such dense smoke, pyrocumulonimbus clouds have formed, creating totally dry storm
clouds, complete with their own thunder and lightning.
If you thought regular storm clouds were imposing, pyrocumulonimbus clouds have such an eery
feel to them.
Also seen were fire tornados, tornados formed from heat and air rapidly rising.
Another impact from fires of this magnitude are the increased levels of particulates and
gases released into the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
NASA’s Aqua satellite has released data showing the carbon monoxide particles escaping
the carbon sinks of Australia’s forests.
Carbon monoxide is extremely toxic to animals and humans, just one of the toxic by-products
of fires.
Australia, like many other parts of the world has always had wildfires, and they always
will, the climate is right for such events and even beneficial in some cases.
But what do you think about the ramifications of fires of this magnitude?
And have you ever been impacted by wildfires yourself?
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Thanks for watching!
And a big thanks to Sean Doran for producing the beautiful time lapse from the Himawari
images seen in this video.
If you want to see more of his stuff, check out the link for his channel in the description.
Also, a big thanks to my Patrons who support the channel, and especially this video to
Cardero who donated $50 this month!
I really appreciate it.
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All the best, and see you next time.