Sahara Dust Cools The Iberian Peninsula
Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - 11:31
in Earth & Climate
British people may not like blood rain but Sahara Desert dust is not traveling 2,000 miles over an ocean just to make their cars dirty - it also helps cool things down. Researchers have analyzed the composition and radiative effect of desert aerosols during two episodes which simultaneously affected Badajoz (Spain) and Évora (Portugal) in August 2012 and found that it caused radiative cooling of the Earth's surface. Atmospheric aerosols (solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere) are difficult to examine for various reasons - they remain in the atmosphere for only a short time and their cause may be natural or anthropogenic. read more