An Indonesian province on the eastern side of Sumatra looked more like Mars over the weekend than a tropical island paradise. Why? Forest fires are raging throughout the country, turning skies red.
Ini sore bukan malam. Ini bumi bukan planet mars. Ini jambi bukan di luar angkasa. Ini kami yang bernafas dengan paru-paru, bukannya dengan insang. Kami ini manusia butuh udara yang bersih, bukan penuh asap.
Lokasi : Kumpeh, Muaro Jambi #KabutAsap #KebakaranHutanMakinMenggila pic.twitter.com/ZwGMVhItwi— Zuni | Justice will prevail (@zunishofiyn) September 21, 2019
More than 4,000 hotspots had been flagged in Indonesia as of last week, and the fires have gotten so bad that schools and airports were closed to protect residents from the harmful health effects that could result from breathing in the nasty soot. Farmers set fires at this time of year to clear land for crops and livestock, according to NASA.
Massive forest fires can frequently turn skies red, and the reason is quite simple. Richard Fitzpatrick, a physics professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told Earther that smoke and other particles scatter blue light more than red light because blue light has a higher frequency than red. So instead of seeing our usual blue skies, we see red. The effect is called Rayleigh scattering.
This is not an instagram filter. THIS IS INDONESIA AT 1 PM.
the sky turns red, due to the smog. schools are all closed in. we miss seeing the sky in blue !!!!#prayforindonesia #PrayForJambi
pic.twitter.com/0LBBxbW8zo— ꪔ̤̮ 공주 (@shinhaerin20) September 23, 2019
“It’s the same phenomenon that causes the skies around the sun to turn red,” Fitzpatrick told Earther. “It’s a result of the interaction of the light with the smoke particles.”
But while the images may be otherworldly, the impacts can be terrible for human health. Particulate matter can lodge itself into the lungs, causing damage. It can eventually affect a person’s heart, too.
Wildfires have been seemingly everywhere this year from the Amazon Rainforest and to the Arctic. These images are a reminder of yet another part of the world ablaze. I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I’ll take blue skies over red any day. Thank you very much.
