
Bushfires in Australia so big they generate pyrocumulonimbus starting more fires - agumonkey
https://www.businessinsider.sg/australia-bushfires-generate-pyrocumulonimbus-thunderstorm-clouds-2019-12/
======
simonsarris
Carbon monoxide from the fires very visible right now on Windy:
[https://www.windy.com/-CO-concentration-
cosc?cosc,-16.636,13...](https://www.windy.com/-CO-concentration-
cosc?cosc,-16.636,132.188,4)

(with China looking like its usual, humdrum Mordor self)

~~~
billfruit
I wonder what is the massive concentration in the middle of Africa.

~~~
simonsarris
It's fires there too, actually. It is the middle of dry season right now for
central Africa.

Windy also has an "Active fires" layer: [https://www.windy.com/-Show---add-
more-layers/overlays?fires...](https://www.windy.com/-Show---add-more-
layers/overlays?fires,-15.284,41.660,3)

(but the pollution layers are often more fun, and more revealing)

which I think is data from Copernicus, but I'm not sure what the data is
exactly.

~~~
SkyBelow
Central African Republic looks like it is 98% on fire right now. But the CO
display doesn't match nearly as well with the fires as it does in Australia.

------
angrygoat
I'm starting to think the least realistic part of every disaster movie plot is
when the government recognises the crisis and acts. We've literally got people
sitting in boats in lakes or the sea while their towns burn around them; this
in a country with well developed fire-fighting infrastructure and well trained
personnel. Action now won't kick in for a decade or two, best case, but that
doesn't make it any less urgent.

~~~
orhmeh09
To my knowledge over 90% of the firefighters are volunteers and they are not
exceptionally well supplied. Australia has done a worse job than other
countries with its vast resources could have done. But I agree with you: when
has humankind ever truly united on something to pull together?

~~~
Robotbeat
Banning CFCs. The UV index is already better than it would've been without the
ban. By 2050 or so, it would've been TRULY bad, with significant rise in skin
cancer.
[https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/WorldWithoutOzone...](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/WorldWithoutOzone/page2.php)

~~~
NeedMoreTea
Many years after hearing, and being inspired by the world's reaction to CFCs
and ozone depletion, I read a piece in one of the main US papers - WSJ, NYT,
WaPo, I forget which, that the main impetus for US action on CFCs was Reagan
had had skin cancer. Which made it more personal for him.

~~~
FooHentai
Whelp, I guess that means we’ll see a proper response right around the time
Aspen has no snow over winter, Miami beachfront drowns, or some politicians
family members pop their clogs die to something CC related.

Alas that’ll be real late.

------
bouncycastle
The problem has probably been compounded by the fact that previous bushfires
have always been actively fought and many were extinguished, thus allowing
more combustible material to build up over decades, where without man's
intervention, the bush would have burned in its natural lifecycle.

A lot of the plant material in Australia has evolved around fire. Take for
example paper-bark trees which developed a fire resistant shell around their
trunks. The blue gum trees especially thrive after files
[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livescience.com/amp/40583-a...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livescience.com/amp/40583-australia-
wildfires-eucalyptus-trees-bushfires.html)

BTW, I've witnessed an Australian bushfire up close once (standing safely at a
beach). These gum trees really do explode as the descriptions say, its an
incredibly ferocious fire. Perhaps that's their evolutionary trick - burn
everything out around them so that their seeds will have less competition to
thrive for the next generation.

~~~
samatman
California, being a paragon of long-term planning, decided to import the
pyrotechnic eucalyptus to the state, thinking it would be a good source of
fast-growing lumber of railroad ties.

Welp, turns out eucalyptus makes terrible lumber, is unsuitable for railroad
ties, lowers the water table, poisons the native flora, and can spontaneously
ignite when sunlight shines on drops of the resin.

Oops!

~~~
roenxi
Eucalyptus are also known to explode when set on fire. Another Australian
flora/fauna that will actively try and kill people.

------
rdiddly
In the fine tradition of debunking click-bait headlines, I would like to make
a somewhat unusual entry. All parts of this headline are true. The fires are
big. They generate clouds/storms. I only call attention to a mere connecting
phrase: "So Big (That)." Pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus clouds are not
unique to these fires, or even to fires this size. They've been generated by
wildfires smaller than these. That is all.

------
chris_wot
Let’s put it in more perspective. So far in the 2019-2020 season (which is
still going) we have lost 1011 homes and 5.9 million ha have been burned.

This is the single largest and most destructive fire season in Australian
history. It is still ongoing and currently there are fires burning out of
control across the country.

Our PM knew this was happening, but went on holiday. He at least came back.
The NSW Emergency Services Minister took a holiday to Europe in the middle of
it all. We still don’t know if he is coming back.

~~~
brink
Legitimately asking - what can the PM do to help the situation? What would he
have done for the fires had he not gone on holiday?

~~~
pjc50
Admit that Australian coal extraction is unsustainable and then resign?
Admittedly that does nothing for _these_ fires, but without some change future
ones are going to be worse.

Bringing that lump of coal into Parliament was a declaration that he wasn't
going to care if Australia burnt to the ground so long as he got his share of
the coal money.

[https://www.theguardian.com/australia-
news/2017/feb/09/scott...](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-
news/2017/feb/09/scott-morrison-brings-coal-to-question-time-what-fresh-
idiocy-is-this)

~~~
pnako
Australia is about 1% of global CO2 emissions. I'm not arguing for being
careless, of course, but either way it's not going to change much.

~~~
Analemma_
Australia supplies a large fraction of the coal burned by Japan, China, Korea
and India. Mentioning the CO2 emissions of Australia itself is missing the
point completely.

~~~
benologist
We are the largest global exporter of coal with over two hundred million
tonnes sent to other countries to burn last year.

[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/29/chinas-p...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/29/chinas-
policies-put-australias-5bn-coal-export-earnings-at-risk)

------
magicbuzz
Climate change is going to introduce new terminology to our lexicon.

Pyro-cumulonimbus is probably one of these new terms.

~~~
pixl97
It's been a term for a long time. Do you mean in general usage?

~~~
magicbuzz
Yes. It’s not a term that I’ve ever heard before.

------
longtom
Wished such news articles would ways contextualize such news with a graph of
the fire activity in previous years, if not in the entire recorded history. I
want a figure how many standard deviations this is above the mean.

Edit: Something like this:

[https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/145000/14...](https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/145000/145998/australia_vir_2019339.png)

Source: [https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145998/fires-
take-a...](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145998/fires-take-a-toll-
on-australian-forests)

~~~
netsharc
I can't help but ask if you have an agenda.. is it to say "See, the NASA graph
shows it's not much worse than previous years, climate change is nothing to
worry about!"?

The graph starts in 2014, that's not exactly a "pre-climate-crisis" year...

~~~
longtom
LOL, you guys have a really sensitive "climate denial sensor". I am about as
critical of ignorant consumerism as it gets. For example I do not think
millions of people need to travel >200 miles a day. But I am also aware that
reducing consumerism is associated with a risk of mass unemployment and social
unrest. Nonetheless I desire context. It's just my need as a nerd to get the
full picture rather than "look at this scary context-less number".

~~~
majewsky
You want the full picture, yet post a graph that starts at 2014?

------
Havoc
So the world ends with fire, ash and brimstone after all

~~~
netsharc
Heh, no need to travel to Venus, just go to Australia!

------
pvaldes
Arson as origin was always a possibility, (same situation in the case of
California) but the hypothese gained a lot of support in the last days with 24
people detained accused of deliberately starting wildfires. It seems that
Australia has waked up finally.

------
mirimir
I can't help thinking of Peter Watts' _Echopraxia_.

------
java-man
Honest Government Ad nailed it:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sitPeRlTdNs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sitPeRlTdNs)

------
tus88
I woke up with a mouth full of smoke thanks to this. And they are a couple of
hundred Ks away!

------
thoughtstheseus
Can anyone provide more context on why the NY Metro region is so high?

------
growlist
Let's hope these aren't being started deliberately.

------
citrus1330
2 Peter 3:1-10

1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of
them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to
recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given
by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come,
scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this
‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it
has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long
ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of
water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged
and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved
for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like
a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow
in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient
with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear
with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and
everything done in it will be laid bare.

~~~
exikyut
It's not hard to figure that those who've come from the front lines of
fighting the fires, those who've helping the injured and those who have lost
their homes are probably doing some hard thinking about their experiences
right now. Fighting any confronting, seemingly loosing battle will do that,
and it's human nature to be philosophical ("let me find a logical model that
pattern-matches well to these specific inputs, but which is sufficiently
complicated enough that I juuust can't quite logically verify the model itself
properly") to cope.

But if I were going to pick a Bible passage that I felt was the most
consistent pattern-match for this situation, I'd probably use Matthew 24:6-7:

6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled:
for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

 _Shrug_ I'd file what's going on over here pretty unhesitatingly under
"pestilences". I'm actually wondering where to move to in future; I'm
currently a comfortable distance away from all the hotspots, and would
(selfishly) like to keep that status quo. Such logistical considerations may
become disillusioningly commonplace in future; hopefully not too distractingly
so...

The reason I like the passage above is the bit about "the end is not yet".
It's ironic: even as I do believe in the Rapture (or at least the vague, hand-
wavy gist of it that the majority of denominations that are prepared to face
the idea all agree on) and/or life after death, my soul's currently stuck in
this specific body for now, and I have to figure out the best way to move
forward.

Luke 19:11-13 comes to mind:

11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he
was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should
immediately appear.

12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive
for himself a kingdom, and to return.

13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said
unto them, Occupy till I come.

The end of verse 13 is my current focus at the moment, and helping me deal
with some circumstantial depression that is causing me to lose sight in the
value of the simple things. ADHD and concentration issues also make it easy
for me to get distracted by details and lend me to top-heavy thinking and
castle-building in the sky.

The thing is, beyond the simple understandings that are conveyed in the Bible,
and the experiences of a few people that say they've visited Heaven (and who
all have noteworthily consistent stories), I have no idea what happens Next™ -
you know, after the end of the world. So trying to plan or schedule for or
obsess over the future would be premature optimization - even as that leaves
me with an absolute sense of "but wat even do I do now then????".

One final verse comes to mind, 1 Corinthians 13:12:

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know
in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Cross-referencing this with later verses in Luke 19 from before,

16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.

17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been
faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

Obviously my life goal is to figure out how on earth I'm supposed to "occupy"
even while I can't even see what I'm doing properly because I "see through a
glass, darkly" (mirror technology wasn't too great 2000 years ago; modern
semantic equivalences might be 300k webcams, or JPEG quality levels below 40)
so that, _beyond_ the end of the world, what I do retains value.

I officially have no idea what I'm doing.

