I have toyed with the idea of climate change causing the African monsoon to go all the way up to the Mediterranean coast in the next few decades. The Qattara depression would start filling and maybe have a very interesting years of swamp-like conditions. But the erosion in the Nile delta and surrounding areas would be a slow--but not slow enough--catastrophic event for Egypt.
It would be interesting to see what climate change models forecast for the region.
jajko•9mo ago
So far we only get Sahara sand few times a year in Europe, seems like frequency is increasing over time. Snow turns yellow or purplish, cars on which it falls or rains look like they just came back from some desert race.
dsign•9mo ago
My mom has complained her entire life about the Sahara sands, which, according to her, cross the Atlantic and find our home in the Caribbean. But the first time I visited the Canary Islands, there was a Calima blowing, and sand was in the air like mist is in Arthur Conan Doyle's novels. But I read somewhere that what caused the Green Sahara was higher temperatures in the tropics and equator[^1], which somehow increased the amount of atmospheric water and South African monsoon reach. Those conditions could occur again if the AMOC halts. OFC, it's all speculation on my part.
[^1] Linked to planetary axial precession, not anthropogenic climate change.
Chris2048•9mo ago
I believe much of the sand in the Canaries (other than that shipped in to the more elevated isles to make white-sand beaches) is blown across - the native sand is black, volcanic. Fuertaventura is low-lying to the East and it has wonderful beaches.
I believe I also read the Amazon relies on Sahara sand for minerals;
"dust picked up from the Bodélé Depression in Chad [located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert], an ancient lake bed where rock minerals composed of dead microorganisms are loaded with phosphorus. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant proteins and growth, which the Amazon rain forest depends on in order to flourish."
That project is about filling the depression with waters from the Mediterranean. Not what I'm referring to. I'm just wondering if human-induced climate change will make rainy weather (climate) there.
dsign•9mo ago
It would be interesting to see what climate change models forecast for the region.
jajko•9mo ago
dsign•9mo ago
[^1] Linked to planetary axial precession, not anthropogenic climate change.
Chris2048•9mo ago
I believe I also read the Amazon relies on Sahara sand for minerals;
"dust picked up from the Bodélé Depression in Chad [located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert], an ancient lake bed where rock minerals composed of dead microorganisms are loaded with phosphorus. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant proteins and growth, which the Amazon rain forest depends on in order to flourish."
-- https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/goddard/nasa-sat...
I wonder if this means the present state of the rainforest is non sustainable?
dghughes•9mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qattara_Depression_Project
dsign•9mo ago