The dawn in Rio de Janeiro usually amazes many people. In recent days, however, cariocas and tourists have gained one more reason to be dazzled by the sunrise. In place of yellow and orange, the sky woke up with an unusual shade of pink that surprised by its beauty. Also registered in Salvador (BA), the reason for the phenomenon, however, has to do with pollution.
The meteorologist Marcio Cataldi, a professor at the UFF (Federal Fluminense University) explains it. According to him, there are two possibilities for the change in tone. The first has to do with particles from the eruption of a volcano in Tonga, Oceania, that would have reached Rio. Illuminated by the sun’s radiation, they would have colored the sky pink.
On the 15th of this month, the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’api caused tsunamis in the nation’s capital Nukualofa, Japan and American Samoa.
The phenomenon lasted eight minutes and was so strong that the sound was heard “like distant thunder” more than 800 km away, Fiji officials said. In Tonga, the population fled to higher ground as houses were destroyed by water.
The specialist, however, says that the change in tone may also have been produced by the concentration in the atmosphere of ozone, a pollutant that is harmful to health. According to him, this is not the first time that this has happened in the sky of Rio.
“When we have a lot of ozone concentration and very hot days, it ends up creating a descending air that traps the ozone and makes it unable to disperse”, explains the meteorologist, adding that the pink tone is an effect of the presence of this pollutant. .
“I believe this more than the volcano issue. The ozone hypothesis is more reasonable and worrying.” Cataldi explains that this pollutant is highly harmful to health, and may even be carcinogenic. “For me, this ozone hypothesis is worse than the volcano hypothesis, because it is transient and has no health problem,” he says.
