This year, the Atlantic hurricane season has been much quieter than usual, and it’s all because of the sand. Fine grains from the Sahara are so abundant in the air that they have influenced the formation of hurricanes.
The Sahara Air Layer consists of sand and dust particles from North Africa that are thrown into the atmosphere by the wind. From there it drifts west. This happens every year in June and July, when about 180 million tons of Saharan dust enters the atmosphere.
This July there was an abnormally high amount of it. It has affected visibility and air quality in major European cities, including Rome, Athens and Paris.
“While it is not uncommon for dust clouds from the Sahara to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which may be attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” Mark Parrington of the European Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said in a statement.
Dry, dusty air prevents hurricanes from forming
The dust and sand make the air higher up warmer and incredibly dry. This layer of warm air sits above a lower layer of cool air and prevents the high clouds that cause hurricanes from forming. Instead, the clouds spread outward.
“Hurricanes don’t form very quickly when there’s a lot of dry air from the desert,” said Chris Fogarty of the Canadian Hurricane Centre.
Earlier this year, experts thought we would have an active hurricane season as ocean temperatures are at an all-time high. The surface temperature of the ocean is a major factor in the formation of hurricanes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that we could have as many as 25 named storms, including 13 hurricanes. So far, there have only been three named storms: Alberto, Beryl, and Chris.
Of these, only Beryl was a hurricane. It was the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record, hitting on July 2. Winds of up to 150 mph (240 km/h) devastated parts of the Caribbean.
But since early July, the Atlantic basin has calmed considerably. High levels of floating sand have counteracted the warm ocean temperatures. Scientists warn, however, that this will not last long. Hurricanes could still strike this season.
The mail Sand from the Sahara prevents hurricanes first appeared on Explorers Web.
