The fall of 1883 was like no other. In the twilight hours, the sunsets and sunrises beamed with a shockingly vivid red color, tinged with flashes of green and purple. When the night finally arrived, the Moon glowed an oddly blue hue. Although the effects were seen as far as Europe and the Americas, the culprit was the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia, which had just ruptured with one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history.
Krakatoa volcano is located in the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.
In May 1883, Krakatoa awoke and started to rumble with volcanic activity, culminating in an intense eruption on August 27. It unleashed a cataclysmic eruption with the force of a 200-megaton bomb. For context, the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated, the USSR’s Tsar Bomba, yielded approximately 50 megatons.
The eruption shattered the island, sent shockwaves racing around the globe, and darkened skies thousands of miles away. It let out a blast estimated to be over 310 decibels, powerful enough to rupture the eardrums of sailors on a ship that was within 64 kilometers (40 miles) of the island.
An estimated 36,000 people were killed and 165 villages were completely destroyed in its wake, primarily by the massive tsunamis generated by the eruption. Thousands also died amid the flow of hot gas and volcanic matter that reached the nearby island of Sumatra.
However, its impact wasn’t limited to this corner of Southeast Asia. The entire global average temperature was cooled by 0.6°C (1.08°F) for months as a result of ash and gases being ejected into the sky, literally blocking out the Sun.
An unknown person took this photograph of the eruption of Krakatoa.
The presence of this ash, as well as volcanic gases, in Earth’s atmosphere had a peculiar effect on the light passing through the sky.
On an ordinary evening, a sunset’s reds and oranges come from sunlight passing through more of the atmosphere at low angle. Shorter blue wavelengths scatter away, letting the longer reds dominate. But when the air is loaded with aerosols, like those released by massive volcanic eruptions, the show can intensify. These particles scatter and refract light in more complex ways, deepening reds and even adding purples to the mix.
Scientists have shown how greenish sunsets appeared in the fall of 1883 due to the presence of volcanic sulfate aerosols, which scatter red light and leave behind a jade green glint. These same optical effects also made the Moon appear more blue than normal for weeks on end.
The effects were felt across the planet. An article in The New York Times, published in November 1883, read: “Soon after 5 o’clock the western horizon suddenly flamed into a brilliant scarlet, which crimsoned sky and clouds. People in the streets were startled at the unwonted sight… The clouds gradually deepened to a bloody red hue, and a sanguinary flush was on the sea.”
Some have wondered whether the surreal skies of 1883 helped inspire Edvard Munch’s haunting masterpiece The Scream, painted a decade later in Norway.
Reflecting on the moment that moved him, Munch wrote: “I was walking along the road with two friends – then the Sun set – all at once the sky became blood red – and I felt overcome with melancholy. I stood still and leaned against the railing, dead tired – clouds like blood and tongues of fire hung above the blue-black fjord and the city. My friends went on, and I stood alone, trembling with anxiety. I felt a great, unending scream piercing through nature.”
The years around 1883 were a lively time for visual art, with Impressionists and Post-Impressionists experimenting with bold colors and new ways of depicting light. From Monet and Manet to Van Gogh and Renoir, these famed artists often set their work against atmospheric skies, rich with unusual shifting tones.
It’s hard not to wonder if the spectacular volcanic sunsets of that decade – rich in vivid reds, purples, and greens – left their mark on the minds of artists at the time.
Source Link: In 1883, A Volcano Turned The Sky Red, Sunsets Green, And The Moon Blue For Several Weeks
