Dust 'affects hurricane activity'

[DoYouEverWonder]

Oct 10, 2006

US researchers have discovered a link between Atlantic hurricane activity and thick clouds of dust that periodically rise up from the Sahara Desert.

At times of intense hurricane activity, dust clouds were scarce, but in years with stronger dust storms, fewer hurricanes swept across the Atlantic.

The work raises the tantalising possibility that Saharan dust storms could help to quench hurricanes.

Details appear in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"These findings are important because they show that long-term changes in hurricanes may be related to many different factors," said co-author Jonathan Foley, director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6038296.stm

[LiberalEsto]

1. That explains the teensy hurricanes

under my furniture

:silly:

[XNASA]

2. Quick. Somebody build a giant fan.

All our problems will be solved. Well, not all of them. Just the hurricane related ones.

[skids]

3. There were numerous waves this year...

...that NOAA mentioned the presence of dust in, and that they were unlikely to develop because of that dust.

[silverweb]

4. Okay.

Forgive me for being suspicious these days of anything "US researchers" have to say under this maladministration.

Who are these researchers and who is paying them? More importantly, who is reviewing/editing/redacting their research?

Is this "report" maybe leading up to "desertification of one-third of the planet's surface is ultimately a good thing because it will reduce hurricane activity" ??

:tinfoilhat:

[kurth]

5. Yep, fill the skies with dust, soot and sulfur

The GOP's remedy for global warming.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. This is something that is visible in FL

usually in the early fall.

The dust from West Africa comes across the Atlantic and we'll have days that are extremely hazy. You can actually see the difference.

[silverweb]

7. "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc," maybe?

I'd still like to see the conclusions confirmed by others outside the U.S. -- at least until our nation's scientific integrity is restored.

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. Preliminary link; no indication of causation

The two conditions have been linked, that's all. This sets the stage of proving a theory that has been around for a while: that the number and intensity of Atlantic hurricanes is affected by the intensity of equatorial winds. One of the reasons why this year was predicted to be a much less severe hurricane season is that winds around the equator had been predicted to be much stronger than in the last few years. The strong winds would both cause more sand storms in the Sahara, and supress the formation of Atlantic hurricanes.

[silverweb]

9. Thanks.

That key word, "preliminary," sure makes a lot of difference, doesn't it?

:D

[modrepub]

10. Dust=dry

Noticed lots of dry air over the tropical atlantic at times this summer. Not sure dust has any real affects on Hurricanes. But if it's dusty from the Sahara and the Sahel, then the air column is dry. Dry air tends to suppress showers and when it becomes entrained in a storm, it inevitably weakens it. Just my thoughts.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. The study was funded by the NOAA

and most of the work was done by people from the University of Wisconsin. Jesus, put down the tinfoil hat.

[pitohui]

11. jeff masters hinted at this

apparently there were a good many dust storms in the sahara this year

we need to find a way to act on this information, such as learning a way to "seed" the storms when they are still babies off the coast of africa -- yeah, i know this is very un-informed and nontechnical way of putting it, but i'm fumbling to express something i've often wondered about

it seems like they just gave up when the seeding did not turn betsey aside and we lost 40 years of work that is badly needed to control these storms

[pscot]

12. Wow, what luck

as desertification spreads, hurricanes may decrease. Oh happy day.