Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Within days, reports started coming in of glaciers in the Southern Alps turning from glistening white to a dirty cream.
Millions of hectares of Australian bush were on fire, and the ash was billowing 2,000km across the Tasman Sea and landing on our doorstep.
Known in Australia as Black Summer, these bushfires raged for 10 months, searing the landscape and leaving a trail of destruction: 34 human lives lost, 20% of the country’s forests burnt and an estimated 3 billion dead animals. In all, approximately 14.3 million hectares of land was scorched.
According to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, the fires were “so wild and erratic that some days they exceeded the worst-case-scenario predictions of a sophisticated computer program.”
They were also among the largest wildfires recorded. So big, they created their own weather, lofting smoke and ash as high as 20km into the stratosphere and impacting the atmosphere in ways that have not been seen before.
In Central Otago, NIWA’s Lauder Atmospheric Research Station specialises in atmospheric research, measuring CFCs, ozone, UV levels and greenhouse gases with world-class instruments and a renowned research team.
Michael Kotkamp is one of those atmospheric researchers. He remembers vividly the day the skies turned orange.
