For two weeks in June 2020, a massive dust plume from Saharan Africa crept westward across the Atlantic, blanketing the Caribbean and Gulf Coast states in the U.S.
For two weeks in June 2020, a massive dust plume from Saharan Africa crept westward across the Atlantic, blanketing the Caribbean and Gulf Coast states in the U.S. The dust storm was so strong, it earned the nickname “Godzilla.”
Now, researchers from the University of Kansas have published a new study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society parsing the mechanism that transported the dust. Their results explain a phenomenon that could occur more frequently in the years ahead due to climate change, affecting human health and transportation systems.
African dust darkened the skies of the Caribbean and American Gulf States thanks to a trio of atmospheric patterns, according to the study.
“Our study finds that it was mainly three different systems,” said lead author Bing Pu, assistant professor of geography & atmospheric sciences at KU. “The African easterly jet exports the dust from Africa towards the Atlantic region. Then the North Atlantic Subtropical High, which is a high-pressure system sitting over the subtropical North Atlantic, can further transport it towards the Caribbean region. Once the dust reaches the Caribbean region, the Caribbean low-level jet — that's another system — along with the subtropical high can further transport the dust from Caribbean region towards the States.”
Read more at University of Kansas
Photo Credit: efuerstenberg via Pixabay
