NASA says Australia bushfire smoke will do full lap of earth and affect atmospheric conditions globally
Multiple cities in Australia woke up to the worst air in the world as smoke blew down from the raging bushfires in the state's east and New South Wales. Victoria recorded hazardous levels of fine particles in the air from 12 am to 4 am, with the air quality forecasts for Geelong, Latrobe Valley, Melbourne, central region, all of Gippsland and the north-central region listed as hazardous by the Environmental Protection Authority.
Australia, over the past few months, has witnessed hundreds of bushfires across the country, which have killed at least 28 people and destroyed over 2,000 homes.
Dozens of people in these cities also rushed to hospitals because of the choking smoke with many complaining of headaches, eye irritation, persistent cough, and difficulty in breathing, according to the Washington Post.
"Overnight for Melbourne it did reach the worst in the world. Those conditions overnight are obviously when there are cooler temperatures and the particulate matter can settle very low to the ground. It will improve through the course of today, I’m told by the chief environmental scientist, so with warmer temperatures that particulate matter will lift," Victoria's chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said, adding that everyone, including healthy people, were at risk because of the air quality.
Meanwhile, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a statement, saying that the smoke from the bushfires will soon circle the Earth and come back to the nation, affecting the world in the process. The smoke emanating from massive infernos in the country has been pushed across the Pacific.
A fleet of NASA satellites 🛰️ working together has been analyzing the aerosols and smoke from the massive fires burning in Australia.https://t.co/93geNvCBnU pic.twitter.com/ZedZ199lvJ
— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) January 9, 2020
Nasa, in a statement, said that plumes from blazes around New Year's Day had crossed South America, turning skies there hazy, and moved "halfway around Earth" by January 8. "The smoke is expected to make at least one full circuit around the globe," the US space agency said, according to BBC.
The smoke emanating from the bushfires has soared into the stratosphere. "Once in the stratosphere, the smoke can travel thousands of miles from its source, affecting atmospheric conditions globally," Nasa said.