The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published this Thursday its annual report on the occurrence and dangers of sand and dust storms and their impact on society. The article examines how climate change may increase the hotspots of these particle storms.
In 2022, critical points were identified Significantly higher dust concentrations in Central and South America and Spainas well as most of Central Africa, the Red Sea, the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabian Sea, the Iranian Plateau, the Bay of Bengal, South Asia, the Tarim Basin in northwestern China, and the tropical Atlantic Ocean between West Africa and the Caribbean.
The document shows that the global average of annual average surface dust concentrations in 2022 was slightly higher than that of 2021 due to increased emissions from West Central Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Iranian plateau and northwest China.
Consequence of climate change and mismanagement
According to the agency, about 2 billion tons of dust enter the atmosphere every year. A lot of this is a natural process, but a lot of it is the result of one poor water and land management.
In this sense, the Secretary General of the UN agency explained that the available reports show that human activities influence sand and dust storms. For example, rising temperatures, drought and increased evaporation reduce soil moisture. Combined with poor land management, this contributes to an increase in sand and dust storms.
Negative effects on health and economy
Petteri Taalas added that the agency is committed to addressing the serious danger posed by such storms and continues to work to improve standard dust storm forecasting capabilities and warning services as part of the Early Warning for All initiative.
Storms impact aviation and ground transportation, reduce the performance of solar arrays, and spread human pathogens has a negative impact on the economy. Loss of soil nutrients costs agriculture in the Pan-American region more than $8 billion annually.
In addition, exposure to dust particles has been linked have harmful health effectssuch as myocardial infarctions, cardiovascular mortality and lung cancer.
Regions most at risk
The document highlights that the Middle East region, where the Asian, African and European continents are connected, has suffered from desertification processes and “alarming” dust episodes in recent decades.
The intensive extraction of water etc Increasing pressure on hydrological resources exacerbates the challenges of an arid climate. The main hotspots of the growing trend of increasing dust emissions are along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, parts of Iran, the Mesopotamian plain of Iraq, eastern Syria and the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates near the Persian Gulf.
Likewise, the document qualifies the northern tropical Atlantic between West Africa and the Caribbean, South America and the Mediterranean as some of the regions most vulnerable to long-distance transport of dust.
Specifically, the transatlantic transport of African dust has covered the entire Caribbean region in 2022, and incursions have been frequent this year.