Satellite images show smoke from Australia’s catastrophic fires has reached South American countries Chile and Argentina.
Pictures from the US meteorology agency the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveal how far smoke has circumnavigated the Earth.
"The effect was seen in the sun through red tones. This effect was produced by a cloud of smoke that comes from the fires," Chile Meteorology chief, Patricio Urra, told AFP.
The cloud has risen to 6,000 meters above sea level and there is no meteorological reason for it to fall back to earth, said Urra. It poses no threat to Chileans.
The Argentine Meteorological Service published satellite images of the cloud saying it had been "transported by frontal systems that move from west to east."
However, it added that all that would be visible was "a sun that's a little redder."
Australian bushfire smoke has been hanging over New Zealand for weeks, with the sky over Auckland turning orange.
Police have asked residents to stop calling them about the haze which New Zealand weather service
New Zealand's Weather Watch described as an "unprecedented plume of smoke.”
"From what [we] can tell smoke this thick has never crossed New Zealand from Australia in recorded history," the weather agency said in a statement.
Source: GEOS FP/NASA GSFC
The Tasman Glacier on New Zealand’s central coast has turned brown after dense smoke passed over the area.
Pyrocumulonimbus clouds, a type of cloud that forms above a bushfire due to rising heat, have been spotted in the country.
The Australian bushfires have killed 25 people this season alone with predictions the disaster could continue for weeks.
