With so much dense, fast-growing vegetation, most of the nutrients in the rainforest are sequestered in plants rather than in the soil. A massive plume of dust from the Sahara desert in northern Africa has been traversing the atmosphere, thousands of feet above the tropical Atlantic Ocean, and …

That’s why there was less noticeable haze in previous years. The comparison photos were sent to me from Mirco Ferro who lives in St. Barthelemy. Ordinarily, the concentration of PM10 is 10 to 20 micrograms per cubic meter of air, mostly due to sea salt. pic.twitter.com/DRLP13kXRp. Twitter user Ada Monzon shared pictures of the dust cloud's impact on Puerto Rico, as it coated cars and other exterior areas in a layer of dust. Ordinarily, this dust would start to thin as it approached the Americas, with some falling into the ocean along the way. Every day at Vox, we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you, and our audience around the world, with information that has the power to save lives. Check the dates in the photos (top is from March) - both are unfiltered or altered in any way. The cloud is moved by strong winds and tropical waves near the central and western Atlantic Ocean between altitudes of 6,500 and 14,500 feet. hide caption. But people can protect themselves with the same tactic that they use to control Covid-19: face masks. It’s also hot and dry, but has a rainy season and can develop dense vegetation. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today.

The bottom of the Saharan Air Layer typically starts about a mile above the Earth’s surface.

To continue reading login or create an account. "Ok, last dust pic for today and this one is perhaps the most incredible yet. “Everything was multiplied here.”. #SAL #DUST pic.twitter.com/FBwOG5ly1E. This was an extreme outlier.”. PM10 tends to get trapped in the nasal passages while PM2.5 can go further into airways. The phenomenon happens …

The phenomenon happens every year – but the 2020 version is especially large and imposing, experts said. The dust behind the recent clouds originates at the convergence of two ecosystems: the Sahara and the Sahel. That in turn may have fueled local weather to whip up more dust. This atmospheric perturbation may have kicked up an exceptional amount of dust from the Sahara. "You tend to see more vivid sunsets and sunrises because of the scattering properties of the dust interacting with the sunlight. The dust will be primarily at higher altitudes, so the main impact will be some especially colorful sunrises sunsets pic.twitter.com/bBzFp06lCu. A computer model forecast of atmospheric dust for the next 10 days. That attention has included some experts who are calling it the "Godzilla dust cloud" due to its unusual size. And more dust is on its way. Here’s how to track the great 2020 plume as it crosses the Atlantic Ocean. The dust will move over the Southeastern United States after reaching the U.S. shore. The “Godzilla” Saharan dust cloud over the US, explained. As of Thursday morning, the cloud was stretching from the western Caribbean, over Belize and the Yucatán Peninsula, and through most of the central and western Gulf of Mexico, blanketing a huge area with its haze. A massive cloud of Saharan dust is heading our way. Chip in as little as $3 to help keep it free for everyone. The first intense plume is now on its way out of the United States, but another, thinner cloud of Saharan dust is on the way this week. These are microscopic organisms that serve as the foundation of many marine ecosystems, becoming food for animals ranging from tiny crustaceans to giant whales. "I think that's why it's garnering so much attention.". As the dust moved across Louisiana on Thursday, images from the ground showed it had turned the sky a milky color with not a trace of blue. Maps, pictures and satellite videos of the dust cloud have been shared across social media, as the cloud continues to move closer to the U.S. "A computer model forecast of atmospheric dust for the next 10 days. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today. A thin layer of #Saharandust is in the surface of our cars, exterior tables, fans, etc. On June 18, satellites began to detect thick plumes of Saharan dust passing over Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau before moving out over the Atlantic Ocean. Giant Sahara Dust Cloud Map: Where Is the Weather Phenomenon Headed in the U.S.? The red color comes from the iron minerals that travel in this layer. But the 2020 cloud that recently shrouded cities like Houston, Miami, and New Orleans in a shadowy haze was one of the most intense on record. NOAA/NESDIS/STAR/GOES-East “If the meteorological conditions of the Sahel or even the Sahara change, and there’s more surface dust, it could change,” Seftor said. The Saharan Air Layer has about half the moisture that’s expected in the air over the tropics.

Researchers are still unclear as to why the recent Saharan dust cloud was so intense since there are so many factors at play. The Saharan Air Layer, also known as Saharan Dust, is made of sand, dirt, and other dust that is lifted into the atmosphere from the vast desert area that covers most of North Africa. Researchers are starting to get answers, however. To form, hurricanes need warm water at the ocean surface and moist, unstable air.

Newsweek reached out to the NOAA for further comment on the dust cloud but did not receive a response in time for publication.

In the summer months, this dust can coincide with other air quality hazards like ozone, which forms more on hot days, further reducing air quality. Weather.com reported that the densest portion of the cloud emerged off of Western Africa just last weekend and the dust has traveled "3,000 to 4,000 miles" across the Atlantic Ocean. “That one was really for the books,” Jason Dunion, a meteorologist at the University of Miami and a researcher at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, told Vox. After reaching the U.S. shore in Texas and other states on the Gulf of Mexico, the dust cloud is expected to shift toward the northeast, moving across the Southeastern U.S. "I think we'll get it mainly over the weekend," Shepherd said, discussing the dust cloud's likely arrival in Georgia. Much of the dust originates in the Bodélé Depression in Chad, an ancient dry lake bed at the threshold of the Sahara and the Sahel. "A thin layer of #Saharandust is in the surface of our cars, exterior tables, fans, etc. Scientists also haven’t detected an overall trend in the pattern of Saharan dust in recent years, and it’s hard to anticipate what will happen as the climate changes. On the ground, the dust cloud, dubbed Godzilla, is triggering air quality alerts for millions of people.

Vox’s work is reaching more people than ever, but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn. A massive cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert is arriving along the U.S. Gulf Coast this week after traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. That combination of hot, dry air creates downdrafts that can prevent clouds from forming, which need cooler air to condense moisture. As more dust clouds roll in, more people may get sick. But he cautioned that this is just speculation at this point. The Sahel is the stripe of land just south of the Sahara with a more tropical climate. “What’s unusual about this one was this is an extremely large one, number one. Each year, the NASA unit said, winds in North Africa loft about 800 million metric tons of desert dust into the air, often scattering the dust thousands of miles away. The Saharan dust is a prime example of the complicated forces that tie our planet together and how the things we experience at home can start from far away. Breathing dust can trigger problems like asthma attacks and worsen conditions like heart disease. The particles themselves can be suspended in the air as aerosols, making them easy to inhale and hard to avoid. Check the dates in the photos (top is from March) - both are unfiltered or altered in any way.

“[I]t’s the smaller particles that will get transported further and will cause the greatest health harms, as they can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream,” said Ploy Pattanun Achakulwisut, a scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute, in an email. So a regular deposit of minerals like phosphorous keeps the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet verdant and lush. #SAL pic.twitter.com/yv2VW9LUYO. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the dust cloud is known as the Saharan Air Layer (SAL), and commonly forms during late spring through early fall. “You’ve got the largest [hot] desert in the world, and then just south of that, you’ve got the hurricane nursery for the Atlantic. The dust sharply reduced visibility when it hit Puerto Rico this week, with its haze completely masking mountains in El Yunque National Forest in northeastern Puerto Rico. The Sahara dust cloud is expected to continue moving over the Caribbean Sea, in a westward fashion, but could reach areas near the Gulf Coast and the southern U.S. later this week.