Volcano sky
Right now, the view through my eastern windows shows the sky above the Cascades filled with a delicate violet, lavender, and magenta haze. The pretty cumuli floating above their peaks are tinted various shades of pink and lavender, as is the snow capping many of those peaks; other clouds, much nearer to where I live, are various shades of purple-grey. Most of the sky is clear, and where it is not hazed in shades of pink, violet, and lavender it is colored in a range of blues, from robin's-egg blue to light blue-grey and blue-purple to azure blue.
This is a typical volcano sky, that is, a sky which, when clear, is tinted in various shades of purple and pink because of preferential scattering of red light by volcanic dust kicked out by volcanic eruptions suspended high in the stratosphere, a condition which can last up to several years if the eruptions are powerful enough and last long enough. For example, the catastrophic 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo injected so much volcanic debris into the atmosphere that the effects of it on global weather patterns lasted for several years during which people all over the Northern Hemisphere were treated to some of the most magnificent sunsets and other sky displays ever recorded.
Currently Iceland's cantankerous volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, has been erupting violently since mid-April of this year. Ultimately it promises to put at least as much dust and other debris into the atmosphere as Mt. Pinatubo did in 1991, and it is because of those eruptions that we are now having these gorgeous evening sky displays, and the unusually cool temperatures which we've been having so far this Spring.
Now the sky above the Cascades is deepening to a hazy, sleepy blue, aqua, and blue-grey, but the nearer clouds are edged with subtle patches of cerise, fuchsia, magenta, and violet.
Now the sky has become an even deeper blue, deep Brandeis blue, primordial azure blue, complete night almost upon us. I could happily drown in that lambent blueness -- the darkened sky glows with that blue, a blue just at the edge of color, fading slowly into darkness.
My heart rejoices at being immersed in such beauty, at being alive at this time in this world to see that beauty. When God gave us eyes, He also gave us brains and minds capable of taking pleasure from the aesthetic beauty the natural world provides us with.
This is a typical volcano sky, that is, a sky which, when clear, is tinted in various shades of purple and pink because of preferential scattering of red light by volcanic dust kicked out by volcanic eruptions suspended high in the stratosphere, a condition which can last up to several years if the eruptions are powerful enough and last long enough. For example, the catastrophic 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo injected so much volcanic debris into the atmosphere that the effects of it on global weather patterns lasted for several years during which people all over the Northern Hemisphere were treated to some of the most magnificent sunsets and other sky displays ever recorded.
Currently Iceland's cantankerous volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, has been erupting violently since mid-April of this year. Ultimately it promises to put at least as much dust and other debris into the atmosphere as Mt. Pinatubo did in 1991, and it is because of those eruptions that we are now having these gorgeous evening sky displays, and the unusually cool temperatures which we've been having so far this Spring.
Now the sky above the Cascades is deepening to a hazy, sleepy blue, aqua, and blue-grey, but the nearer clouds are edged with subtle patches of cerise, fuchsia, magenta, and violet.
Now the sky has become an even deeper blue, deep Brandeis blue, primordial azure blue, complete night almost upon us. I could happily drown in that lambent blueness -- the darkened sky glows with that blue, a blue just at the edge of color, fading slowly into darkness.
My heart rejoices at being immersed in such beauty, at being alive at this time in this world to see that beauty. When God gave us eyes, He also gave us brains and minds capable of taking pleasure from the aesthetic beauty the natural world provides us with.