The Red Rain Phenomena

The phenomenon

Here the "SAGA" begins....

On  25th July 2001 a very strange and mysterious Red  Rain was  occurred   at Changanasserry in Kottayam District of Southern Indian State of Kerala. This color change was first noted by Mr. Vijayakumar (Gopurathinkal, Morkulangara) at his residence around 8am. Several other people were also witnessed the red rain at changanassery. The residents informed the scientists at CESS    (Centre for Earth Science Studies, Trivandrum). Scientists from CESS visited Changanssery and collected samples.  The water was found to contain suspended particles, which settled down after several hours.  According to their findings around 1500 Kg of red colored particles were down poured through rain on 25th July event and inferred that the reason for the red rain was due to meteor airburst. The people living in the area reported, they heard an extremely loud thunder in the morning of July 25th. This is one of the main reason that the CESS scientists made an early conclusion on the event and there is no way to find an alternative solution for the origin of this huge amount of red particles. They examined the rain water under microscope, found the substance was seen to consist of tiny circular particles that resembled spores. Hence the sample was therefore transferred to the microbiology laboratory of the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI).

Microbiology Studies at TBGRI: In order to identify the organisms, the spores were allowed to grow in a medium suitable for growth of algae and fungi. Small quantities of the sediments were inoculated to culture media such as Sabouraud’s agar, Czapek Dox agar, potato Dextrose agar and Corn-meal agar. The report says intense growth was observed in the  corn meal agar and poor growth was observed in the other media. Hence they arrived a conclusion that the organism which caused red coloration to the rain water was identified as an alga belonging to the genus Trentepohlia, a lichen-forming alga and TBGRI submitted report to CESS

THUS Red Rain study comes to an end ....for those who believe in the local origin theory....

At the same time the CESS report also raised several  unresolved questions remain to be addressed: What are the reasons for the coloured rain reported to have occurred this year only? Why has it been reported only from a few scattered places in the midlands of Kerala? What, for instance, had produced the huge quantity of spores? And how were the spores injected into the clouds? Was the source local or alien?  "While the cause of the colour in the rainfall has been identified, finding the answers to these questions is what is posing a challenge

More scientists showed interest in the phenomenon and many alternative theories were also offered at this juncture,    Such as,

•         coloured rain was linked to well collapses and landslides and due to biological gas

•         water molecules clustered together around the minute crystals of micro-pollutants in the air, and thereby formed coloured raindrops

•         phenomenon was the aftermath of industrial pollution

Meanwhile, meteorologists at the Centre of Monsoon Studies have put forward a radically different hypothesis for the coloured showers. According to them, the fine dust blown into the Arabian sea from the deserts of West Asian countries are colouring the Kerala rain. In a reported statement, the dust-laden air from the Arabian dust-bowl moves southwards and turns east over central Arabian Sea towards the Kerala coast. This, they says, "got mixed with the monsoon rains".

All these reports came just in a week while the strange phenomenon continuously occurring in the State turns the people in panic..

Analysing data from satellites and a laser radar, scientists at the Vikram Sarabai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram have found the reason for the red rain is that a dust cloud that originated in the Gulf.

Thus, competing theories were deadlocked, with no theory proving satisfactory enough to resolve the issue

Is it really lichen forming algae ? or it is dust?

Is it really Trentepohlia ? was it originated locally ?

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