A dust storm travels from the Sahara Desert across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas.. What is the impact of this on hurricane season?

Weather of Arabia - Winds carry an estimated 100 million tons of dust from the Sahara every year and transfer it to other regions of the world, a large part of which passes over the North Atlantic Ocean, and satellite images have captured a new wave of dust moving from the Sahara since the early June 2022, some of them are heading to the Americas, so what are the effects of this on the Atlantic hurricane season?

Dust plays a key role in Earth's climate and biological systems, as airborne particles absorb and reflect sunlight - and change the amount of solar energy that reaches the surface - and can also enhance or reduce the formation of clouds and storms, depending on other weather conditions. NASA tracking the optical depth of aerosols increases dramatically in sunlight-reflecting particles as a Saharan dust storm advances across the waters of the Atlantic Ocean (the image below was taken on June 5 and shows the sun's reflection off dust particles).

Impact of sandstorms on hurricanes

Dry sand and dust storms usually weaken emerging tropical systems before they develop into hurricanes over the ocean. These storms absorb moisture and change wind characteristics. An example of this is sandstorms from the Sahara Desert that affect hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean.

Desert dust, also known as the Saharan Air Layer (SAL), prevents tropical activity in the Atlantic Ocean. The desert air layer is warm, dry and dusty air coming from the Sahara Desert in Africa. These dust waves move off the west coast of Africa during the summer months especially, and travel With the prevailing easterly winds to North America.

Hurricanes need deep tropical moisture to form, and get their energy from the warmth of the ocean. The warmer the water, the more energy is available and the greater the chance of hurricane formation. However, sand and dust storms absorb some of the sunlight and reflect some of it, and only allow a part of the sun's rays to pass to the surface of the ocean, and this leads to the surface of the water and the air above it remaining cool under the warm dust layer, which stabilizes the atmosphere and prevents the formation of hurricanes.

In addition, the prevailing winds that carry the desert air layer across the Atlantic Ocean, and present in the intermediate levels of the atmosphere, are relatively strong and cause high wind shear, which hinders the development of tropical systems.

The warm air accompanying the dust storm also stabilizes the atmosphere and prevents clouds from forming, as dust suspended in the atmosphere absorbs sunlight, which helps it maintain its warmth as it moves across the Atlantic Ocean.

You may also be interested in: How do sand and dust storms affect the weather?

Dust storm moving towards the Americas

Satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured a powerful plume of dust from the Sahara desert, stretching from the African coast to Cuba, reaching across the Atlantic Ocean into the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, and crossing the region stretching from southern Texas to Florida in the United States. During this week.

Dust storms in summer tend to lift material higher into the atmosphere, allowing dust plumes to travel thousands of kilometers with high-level winds. This summer monsoon wind patterns can carry dust from Africa to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and plumes of dust recently reached Florida, Texas and other southern states in mid-May 2022.

In late June 2020, a monstrous dust cloud called "Godzilla" swept the Atlantic Ocean. "Godzilla" dust storm broke records for the largest storm ever, as it created a mass of sand 8000 kilometers long, darkening the sky from the Atlantic Ocean to the southeastern United States. Although this week's dust plume is not expected to reach "Godzilla" status, it is a reminder that the frequency of these dust plumes increases during mid-June and peaks from late June to mid-August, coinciding with the Atlantic hurricane season.

For more: 10 dangerous signs that appeared during the year 2020 indicating the acceleration of climate change