UKC

So, in a discussion with my husband about how much we like autumn, I discovered that he doesn't smell anything different about autumn mornings! Although he tastes the colder mornings later in the season!! Aren't people's differences fascinating?!

Anyway, I was trying to describe what I smell, and I am struggling. The best I can find is an almost smokey smell, but that doesn't quite get it. What do they smell of for you? (If, of course, you do smell something!)

In reply to girlymonkey:

Mulch.

In reply to girlymonkey:

They smell of 'fear'of the approaching Xmas.

In reply to girlymonkey:

Anthocyanins and carotenoids

In reply to girlymonkey:

Napalm.

In reply to girlymonkey:

It's earth for me; damp earth. The loamy smell of the leaves rotting down, coupled with the chill of the scent as it hits your nostrils. And I grew up in a village where coal fires were the norm so coal smoke smells autumn/wintery to me.

In reply to girlymonkey:

petrichor?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor

In reply to DaveHK:


Victory?

In reply to DaveHK:


Damn, just back from the pub and you beat me to it.

In reply to girlymonkey:

It's a slightly sweet smell I think?

In reply to girlymonkey:

Change.

In reply to girlymonkey:

Nikwax

In reply to girlymonkey:

Same as every other morning, a good morning turd from Leo the lion heart cat.


Oh, did you mean when I get outside?

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:

Good word, I've never heard that, thanks. And fantastic that it was coined by a Joy Bear!

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:

Summer can smell of petrichor too, and spring.

In reply to girlymonkey:
Autumn can smell of mulch and woodsmoke, and the smell of Coxes and Russet apples, and a 'new freshness' in the air from the absence of the scents of pollen and flowers being carried.

In reply to girlymonkey:

Mists and mellow fruitfulness.

In reply to Alyson:

My thoughts exactly. Dark, wet, friable, muddy, dense, leafy earth.

In reply to girlymonkey:

Mrs. Num Num's knickers

In reply to girlymonkey:

Farts and Beer

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:



I've always thought Petrichor was the smell of rain on very dry ground. I associate it with midsummer rainstorms when a hot spell 'breaks' but I could well be wrong on that.

In reply to girlymonkey:

Good answers here, thanks mulch and sweetness seems to capture it roughly. I'm off for a run now to enjoy the smell!

In reply to girlymonkey:
It smells of decay.

The sweet smell of the last of the fruit rotting on the ground and the musty smell of leaves breaking down and mycelium growing through the leafmould.

It's a pleasant smell, and though it signals the end of summer 'decay' not a negative thing. It's the smell of nutrients being returned to the earth for safe keeping until they'll fuel a new burst of growth in the spring.

It's also an olfactory reminder to keep your eyes out for mushrooms in the woods

In reply to girlymonkey:

On this lovely morning it was the scent of youthful Burgundy being decanted for dinner. Ironically the sous bois (mulch) of mature Burgundy will make its appearance this evening.

In reply to girlymonkey:

In my recent experience, dog farts.

In reply to interdit:


Or death as it's often called.

In reply to birdie num num:


You been on the Draught Bass again?

In reply to girlymonkey:

Exhaust fumes, and whatever it is they're doing on the building site next door. Perils of living in a busy town centre ...

In reply to girlymonkey:

Dog fart mostly, same as every other bloody season
jk

In reply to girlymonkey:

It's a damp earthy smell for me, which triggers my mind to think of the grit (and it's smell), of stolen mornings pottering around soloing or bouldering on the edges of the Peak just after dawn before scooting back to Manchester to real life.

The depressing thing I smell that smell, think those thoughts, then realise I'm driving to work to spend the entire day in an office eon the 5th floor of an generic office block.

In reply to felt:


wiki says anthocyanin is 'odorless'
how about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene
?

In reply to girlymonkey:
faint "sweet and musky" odour is the smell of ethylene, produced from plants during abscission/senescence (triggered by cold nights?)

other theories here: http://www.theodysseyonline.com/does-october-really-have-smell

In reply to malk:

Synaesthesia, innit

In reply to felt:

no, ethylene - i smelt it this morning and it wasn't fungal..

In reply to girlymonkey:

I don't smell autumn, but I can smell snow is coming

In reply to girlymonkey:

Laphroaig

In reply to girlymonkey:

Today and yesterday the morning smelled strongly of TCP. No idea what that is about.

In reply to Clarence:


Laphroig for breakfast! Yum

In reply to girlymonkey:

Death

In reply to girlymonkey:

Smells like work, same as every other damn morning

In reply to girlymonkey:

Sweet decay. I love it.

In reply to girlymonkey:

This smell may be due to geosmins. They are secondary metabolites produced by soil dwelling actinomycetes. It is what lends the earthy smell to the air after rain, so the increase in dampness associated with autumn may result in greater release of these volatiles, giving damp autumn mornings a characteristic smell.

I spent a few months studying actinomycete metabolites for antimicrobial activity, so I was greeted by this smell in the culture lab every morning.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

in rural Cumbria it's pretty well sewage slurry 4 seasons, strong enough that your washing smells of it