1/04/14 10:18 AM Scientists use Van Gogh's sunsets to understand climate

Page 1 of 2 http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/scientists-use-van-goghs-sunsets-to-understand-climate-20140331-35t0e.html
Vincent Van Gogh's Sunset at Montmajour.
The crater of Indonesia's Mount Tambora. Its eruption
Scientists use Van Gogh's sunsets to understand climate
Vincent Van Gogh's Sunset at Montmajour may
be your favourite painting for its sublime and
serene use of colours but for a group of Greek
and German scientists it may provide vital clues
about how the Earth's atmosphere was when
Van Gogh painted it. Their article is published
in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, according
to a press release.
According to the scientists, analysing the colors
of the sunsets in paintings can give an idea of
the level of ash, gas, and other pollutants that
may have been present in the atmosphere at that time. Particularly, following major vol-
canic eruptions, painters may have seen darker evening skies as the ash and gas released
during the eruptions scatter the different colours of sunlight, making sunsets appear
redder.
In 1815, Mount Tambora erupted in Indonesia. It was the largest volcanic eruption in
recorded history and heavy volcanic ash falls were observed in faraway places. The ash
and gas from the eruption was spewed into the atmosphere and travelled all over the
world, causing global climate anomaly. The aerosol particles scattered the sunlight and
many parts of the world experienced bright red and orange sunsets. Europe saw these
sunsets for up to three years after the eruption. J. M. W. Turner was one of the artists
who painted the stunning sunsets during that time. His The Lake, Petworth: Sunset, Fight-
ing Bucks was one of the paintings to be analysed by the scientists to determine the com-
position of the atmosphere following the eruption.
"Nature speaks to the hearts and souls of great
artists," says lead-author Christos Zerefos, a pro-
fessor of atmospheric physics at the Academy of
Athens, Greece. "But we have found that, when
colouring sunsets, it is the way their brains per-
ceive greens and reds that contains important
environmental information."
The scientists also analysed hundreds of high-
1/04/14 10:18 AM Scientists use Van Gogh's sunsets to understand climate
Page 2 of 2 http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/scientists-use-van-goghs-sunsets-to-understand-climate-20140331-35t0e.html
in 1815 was the largest in recorded history. Its volcanic
ash and gas travelled the world, causing bright red and
orange sunsets.
quality digital photographs of sunset paintings
created between 1500 and 2000. This period has
recorded over 50 large volcanic eruptions
around the globe. They were looking to find out whether the relative amounts of red
and green along the horizon of each painting could provide information on the amount
of aerosols in the atmosphere.
"We found that red-to-green ratios measured in the sunsets of paintings by great masters
correlate well with the amount of volcanic aerosols in the atmosphere, regardless of
the painters and of the school of painting," says Zerefos.
Skies more polluted by volcanic ash, mineral (desert dust), or man-made aerosols appear
more red since these tiny particles scatter more sunlight. Air with a higher amount of
aerosols has a higher 'aerosol optical depth'. The team calculated this parameter using
the red-to green ratios in the paintings. They then compared these values with those giv-
en by independent proxies such as ice-core and volcanic-explosivity data that measure
the amount of material ejected by a volcano, and found that they matched. The results
obtained validate those of the team's previous study, published in Atmospheric Chemistry
and Physics in 2007.
The scientists wanted to further validate their findings by observing a dust cloud
through the eyes of a painter so they asked a famous colorist to paint sunsets during and
after the passage of a Saharan dust cloud over the island of Hydra in June 2010. The sci-
entists then compared measurements of the aerosol optical depth made by modern in-
struments with those that emerged from the red-to green ratios in the painting and other
digital pictures and found that they matched well.The after effects of the Tambora vol-
cano were devastating with human death toll reaching 70,000 of which 10,000 were
killed directly by the eruption. The other deaths were caused due to famine and diseases
that resulted due to the 'volcanic winter' that followed the eruption.
Aerosol optical depth can be directly used in climate models to determine how aerosols
have affected the Earth's climate in the past. Similarly, they can be used to improve pre-
dictions of future climate change."We wanted to provide alternative ways of exploiting
the environmental information in the past atmosphere in places where, and in centuries
when, instrumental measurements were not available," concludes Zerefos.
International Science Times