Antarctica’s sky dazzles in shades of purple after Tongan volcanic eruption

Months after the Tongan volcanic eruption, the Antarctic sky has turned stunning shades of purple and violet due to the afterglow from the powerful eruption.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on January 15, triggering a tsunami and sending powerful atmospheric pressure waves across the world. James Garvin, the chief scient at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told US-based NPR that the blast produced a power equivalent of 10 megatons of TNT which is 500 times as powerful as the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in Japan.
Following the volcanic eruption, aerosols made up of sulphate particles, sea salt and water vapour circulated in the air, bending and scattering sunlight and creating a glow in the sky with hues of pink, purple, violet and blue.
These are termed afterglows, said Nava Fedaeff, a forecaster with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand in a press release.
Their colour and intensity vary according to the amount of cloudiness and haze along the path of light that reaches the stratosphere, she added.
From Hut Point looking north towards McMurdo Station in Antarctica. (Photo Stuart Shaw/Fly On the Wall Images)
The photographs were captured Stuart Shaw, an Antarctica New Zealand science technician stationed at the Scott Base for winter, said NIWA in a press release.
Explaining the extraordinary views, Shaw said that Antarctica is usually constantly in the dark in the middle of winter with the exception of a slight period during the middle of the day.
“But this year, we were presented with quite a show, which had most of the station personnel grabbing jackets and running outside with their cameras to look at the awesome colours,” Shaw told NIWA.
From Hut Point looking north towards McMurdo Station, including including ‘Vince’s Cross’ (Photo Stuart Shaw/Fly On the Wall Images)
“Believe it or not, I haven’t edited these shots either, they are pretty much as we saw it. It’s incredible,” he added.
Earlier in June, it was reported that parts of New Zealand had witnessed similarly vivid sunrises and sunsets which scients attributed to the same afterglow.
Antarctica New Zealand’s Chief Science Advisor Jordy Hendrikx said that the photographs are a reminder of how connected our planet is.
“Antarctica is some 5,000 km from New Zealand, some 7,000 km from Tonga, but we share our skies,” he said.