Dust blown all the way from Africa鈥檚 Sahara Desert is arriving this week in Texas, which happens every year around this time.
Around 6,000 years ago, North Africa was covered in huge lakes that were home to microscopic creatures. The dust that now blows over from Africa and visits us every summer is made up of the remains of those ancient lake-dwellers. It鈥檚 mind-boggling.
But it poses more immediate concerns for asthma sufferers and people with respiratory conditions. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says the dust is partly to blame for moderate air quality this week in many parts of the state, including Austin.
If you are sensitive to particle pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency advises you consider reducing outdoor activities. On the flip side, the annual dust clouds can make for some pretty sunsets and help fertilize the Amazon Rainforest.
Read more about these dust clouds below.
The following was in 2018:
They contain the remains of ancient life
Around 6,000 years ago, North Africa was a wetter place. Lakes covered much of what is now the Sahara Desert, and in them lived microscopic creatures called "diatoms." When the lakes dried, the remnants of those creatures remained.
The diatoms became 鈥渢his whitish powdery chalky stuff鈥� on the desert floor, says Charlie Zender, who studies atmospheric physics at the University of California, Irvine.
Zender says that 鈥渃halky stuff鈥� is rich in minerals and so small that it鈥檚 really good at traveling on the wind. In the Sahara, there鈥檚 plenty of wind, so every summer storms kick thousands of tons of the dust into the atmosphere.
They can stop hurricanes from forming
Once in the air, the long-deceased diatoms and everything else begins heading west toward the Americas on a wind pattern called a 鈥渢ropical wave.鈥�
鈥淵ou can think of it as a cake layer between about 1 and 3 miles above the [earth鈥檚] surface. So, it鈥檚 in a 2-mile-thick layer as it travels across the ocean,鈥� says Jason Dunion, a research meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
On the way, Zender says, the dust cloud drops minerals to the earth, fertilizing the ocean. It also stops hurricanes from forming, Dunion says.
鈥淭he dry air, the very strong winds and the warming that we get in these dust outbreaks 鈥� all act to suppress the hurricane activity,鈥� he says.
They stop storms from forming on land, too. Since storms are the main thing that helps cool Texas in the summer, the dust鈥檚 presence adds to the intense heat.
They reflect the sunlight and cool the earth
The dust clouds increase the heat on land by absorbing sunlight and discouraging storms, but over the ocean, Zender says, they cool the atmosphere by reflecting sunlight back into space.
鈥淚n the net, this dust helps cool the planet a bit, just a little, but every bit of cooling we can get to offset global warming gasses is helpful,鈥� he says.
While some researchers speculate that global warming could increase the intensity of African dust clouds in some parts of the world, Dunion says it鈥檚 still unclear how the phenomenon will be affected.
Climate change could actually decrease the dust clouds, he says, by reducing the occurrence of the 鈥渢ropical waves鈥� on which they travel.
They make sunsets prettier but cause asthma
The shape of the dust particles has at least one benefit: They can make the sky look pretty.
鈥淭he way they鈥檙e shaped, they tend to scatter the sunlight more in the morning and in the afternoon,鈥� Dunion says. "It鈥檚 really that sunrise/sunset time of day that you really can appreciate it overhead.鈥�
But there's also one big drawback: These fine particles can enter your lungs and increase symptoms for people with asthma.
They fertilize the earth
Perhaps the most important role the dust plays happens when it鈥檚 not heading to Texas, but in the winter when it visits South America. That鈥檚 when the nutrient-rich remains of those long-dead microorganisms fertilize the Amazon rainforest, Zender says.
鈥淕reat Mother Africa still sort of feeds its former child South America with nutrients from the African desert,鈥� he says.
That鈥檚 going to start happening soon, as our days get shorter and the sun moves the waves of dusty wind away from us and to the south.
