Sahara dust, the historic cloud that obscures the Caribbean
Indice
The work published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters, shows that 22,000 tons of phosphorus arrive annually from the Sahara to the Amazon basin, providing a quantity of nutrients essential for the health of the rainforest.
Much of the phosphorus detected on this transoceanic journey comes from the Bodele depression (Chad), an area formerly covered by a lake where phosphorus-rich rocks accumulate.
The Saharan dust plume departed from Africa driven by constant and intense trade winds, which carry the dust to the American continent in a channel parallel to the Equator, often taking advantage of the cloudy transit of the ZCIT.
Usually in spring, these waves of Saharan dust usually reach the Caribbean, while as the calendar progresses, the Saharan advection arrives on the southeastern coast of the United States or in the Caribbean.
On our coasts it causes the appearance of red tides and the salinization of the soils of the South of the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands. In this entry we talked in detail about the conclusions reached by the Air Quality Network of the Junta de Andalucía in this regard.
International Vaccination Center Hospital La Fe Valencia
In this sense, what are the consequences of this dust for our health? According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), an organization affiliated to the World Health Organization (WHO), “the danger generated by the annual recurrence phenomenon lies in the content of bacteria, viruses, spores, iron, mercury and pesticides present in the dust”.
The expert explains that those particles that reach the bronchus can cause what is known as bronchospasm. This occurs when the internal mucosa of the bronchi becomes inflamed and the existing space for air to enter is reduced. Although Urrutia clarifies that, generally, this haze does not affect much, “it is a triggering factor in asthmatic patients to aggravate the disease”.
To a greater or lesser extent, it is clear that these “mud storms” have an impact on our health. Therefore, it is important to take into account certain precautions to avoid as much as possible the effects of these particles on our organism:
Rainfall forecasts for Central America, the Caribbean, the U.S., and the U.S.
The dust plume is easy to track on satellite imagery, in which viewers can watch animations of this phenomenon’s journey and observe the historical concentration of dust as a giant brown mass that has traveled more than 8,000 kilometers.
“The main impacts of Saharan dust will be hazy skies during the day, locally reduced visibility and degraded air quality,” the Climate Prediction Center said. “However, this could also generate some very colorful sunrises and sunsets with deeper oranges and reds compared to normal.”
| When encountering a tropical cyclone, Saharan dust “suppresses the cyclone’s updrafts, and the horizontal winds that carry it significantly change the wind direction.”
This drier air could also allow temperatures to be higher than normal during the day, the Climate Prediction Center warned. Temperatures in Florida could reach record highs this Friday and Saturday.
Weather: Sahara Dust
This is a layer of dry air and dust that forms over the desert and moves towards the Atlantic, traveling in the middle part of the atmosphere, at an altitude of between two to five thousand meters.
It is expected to cover Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Yucatan, with low to moderate concentrations, and then move towards the southeastern United States of America.
The meteorological phenomenon may inhibit the formation of storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, since the dry air would suppress updrafts and the horizontal winds that transport the dust significantly change the speed and direction of the air in the storm.
Sahara dust does not represent a danger to the population in Mexico, its effect is more direct in the amount of cloudiness and rainfall, according to the National Center for Disaster Prevention (Cenapred).
It is not easy for people to see the phenomenon, although if you are at sea on board a ship you may perceive the sky a little cloudy because it is suspended dust particles, or it could be observed when there is high pollution in cities, but it is visible in images from meteorological satellites.