Turning the day into night for a few seconds or even a few minutes is an unforgettable experience.
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There you can see the eclipse in its entirety, while it can also be partially appreciated in other points of those two countries, in addition to Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and some areas of the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans and Antarctica.
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Yet that darkness is just the most obvious effect on Earth. What are the other impacts?
In 1715, the famous English astronomer and astrophysicist Edmund Halley witnessed a total solar eclipse and stated that “the cold and the humidity joined the darkness “, causing” a certain horror “among the spectators.
It is currently known that when the Moon blocks sunlight completely, the meteorological variables of temperature, relative humidity and pressure change.
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As explained by NASA, the decrease is equivalent to the difference in temperature that exists between day and night at that time of year for that place.
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For example, during the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, a group of scientists measured the temperature at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, USA and discovered that The phenomenon caused a drop of 3,5°C.
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According to the research, led by physicist Jennifer Fowler, andThis “drop in temperature is within the range recorded in previous studies.”
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2. “Eclipse wind”
The darkness brings another change in the atmosphere: the so-called “eclipse wind.” According to a study published in 2016 by the University of Reading (United Kingdom), “as the Sun disappears behind the Moon, the ground cools abruptly, just as it does at dusk,” said one of the research leaders. , atmospheric physicist Giles Harrison.
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“This means that the hot air stops rising from the ground, causing a drop in wind speed and a change in its direction“he added.
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3. Solar radiation in plants
“As the partial eclipse becomes total, the solar radiation in a given location will decrease more than three times faster than during a normal sunset, possibly unleashwill bring unique responses from plants“, reports NASA on its website.
You may be interested in: This was the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century
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It clarifies “possibly” because the subject has not been systematically studied. For example, last month the magazine Nature published the results of a University of Wyoming study conducted during the August 2017 total solar eclipse, which analyzed its effects on Artemisia tridentata, a particular type of shrub whose popular name in English would be translated as “great mugwort”.
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Eclipses are a good opportunity to bring children closer to science. Photo: AFP–
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“The reduction in temperature and the lack of sunlight impacted the circadian clock of the great mugwort, sparking a response far beyond what happens when clouds block sunlight, “Daniel Beverly, lead author of the study, told the journal Scientific Reports.
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“However, the duration of the totality of the eclipse was not long enough for the plants to be completely brought into their nocturnal state“he continued.
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At the place where Beverly’s team did their measurements, the total solar eclipse lasted 2 minutes 18 seconds. In this Tuesday’s eclipse, the maximum time of totality exceeded 2 minutes 30 seconds.
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4. Animal behavior
According to NASA, “In many eclipses it has been reported that many different animals startle with totality and change their behavior thinking that twilight has arrived“.
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However, as with plants, most data on animal behavior are anecdotal and isolated.
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During total solar eclipses, diurnal birds go out in search of the nest, while nocturnal birds begin their activity. Photo: GETTY IMAGES.––
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To begin to change this, during the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, in addition to analyzing atmospheric phenomena, Fowler’s team teamed up with the iNaturalist organization to conduct a citizen survey of animal behavior.
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Within the more than 2,700 observations they received, there were some repeating trends.
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As for insects, “many people heard that the cicadas stopped singing and the crickets started To do it (during the total solar eclipse), and then reversed when full coverage ended! “
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And of pets, iNaturalist noted that “many noted that their hens gathered or rested and became quiet during the eclipse, while many people also noted that their roosters began to crow during the eclipse.”
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Is it true that goats pass out during eclipses? No, it is a myth. Photo: GETTY IMAGES.––
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On the other hand, it is often said that, when the Moon covers the Sun in broad daylight, goats faint.
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The phenomenon even has its own word in English: goatality, a neologism that combines the words goat (“goat”) and fatality (“fatality”).
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However, although it sounds like a lot of fun, he goatality it’s false, as the BBC itself found during a live coverage from a goat farm in the aforementioned eclipse of 2017.
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