Environmental Conditions Associated with the Occurrence of Large Scale Dust Storms in Arid Regions of North Africa.

• Main Authors: Prospero,J M, Helgren,D M, Estoque,M, Fernandez-Partagas,J
• Other Authors: ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL OF MARINE AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE MIAMI FL
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1986
• Subjects: Meteorology; *DUST STORMS; SOURCES; ENVIRONMENTS; AEROSOLS; THRESHOLD EFFECTS; WIND; SAND; TERRAIN; GEOLOGY; DUST; REMOTE DETECTORS; STORMS; WIND VELOCITY; TROPICAL REGIONS; METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA; NORTH(DIRECTION); DESERTS; CONFIDENCE LEVEL; HAZE; NORTH AFRICA; SUBTROPICAL REGIONS; SAHARAN AFRICA; WEST AFRICA; ARID LAND; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA165662; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA165662

Dust storms are complex phenomena that are dependent on many meteorological and environmental factors. Because they normally occur in remote and in hospitable regions, they have been studied relatively little. Such studies are further hampered by the dearth of meteorological, climatological and geological data for such regions. In particular, the occurrence of the major storms seems to be related to identifiable meteorological conditions; such storms should be predictable with a fair degree of confidence. Likewise, it is clear that there are a wide variety of terrains that can serve as dust sources given the right meteorological conditions. However, the truly great storms appear to occur in a relatively well defined region of the western Sahara, west and southwest of the Ahaggar masif. There are many terrains in this region that can serve as dust sources. As a consequence, the dimensions of the storm appear to be controlled by the wind field and, hence, serves as a visible manifestation of the governing synoptic event. Nontheless, sources in these areas are clearly very important and could control the aerosol characteristics over a large area of West Africa and the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic. Keywords: Sand storm, Threshold wind velocity, Meteorology, Deserts, Sahara, Remote sensing, Haze, Deflation.