This week, Africa!
The storms in West Africa are causing me to think about global warming. Once again, scientists are now correlating one part of the world with another. The storms blow dust into the air, then over the Atlantic and finally moves on to circulate into the Atlantic. To emphasize the impact of warm winds and dust on the Atlantic temperatures, scientists claim these African contributions help form hurricanes. Apparently, the more severe the wind storms are the weaker the hurricanes, and vice versa. This occurs from the accumulation of storms that float over the Atlantic, and eventually settle into the ocean. This then contaminates the water and circulates through the same currents reaching the Americas.
What does this have to do with global warming? Research suggests that having these storms circulating around and through the Atlantic lowers the average temperature by two degrees Fahrenheit. This also applies to the hurricane effect, the more dust provides lower temperatures. The more severe the storms, the weaker the hurricanes are due to lower temperatures. The good news is, not only do the storms help reduce global warming, but they also help meteorologists predict hurricanes. However, altogether this explains some but not nearly all of the situation. Scientists can use models to adapt and predict storm similarities between Africa and the Atlantic, but understanding the reasons and variables that cause the African storms are not fully understood. Although wind patterns are for the most part calculated and mapped, it is based on constantly changing patterns. One more question to research, and another article to discuss.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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