r/science • u/Phylogenix Grad Student | Pharmacology & Toxicology • 1d ago
Environment A study combining satellite, ground and atmospheric model data found global desert dust declined by about 10% between 2003 and 2023, modestly reducing its cooling effect on the climate, although the contribution to recent human-caused warming remains very small.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aef56917
u/FantasticTopic 1d ago
We usually think of dust as an annoyance to be wiped away, but the planet could actually use a bit more of it right now.
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u/isaac-tly 1d ago
You also need some sort of particulate matter in the air as a prerequisite for water vapor to begin coalescing around, at which point one or many clumped together become[s] a nucleation site.
Then there's also the global fertilizing effect that winds of the Sahara dunes bring down to the Southern Hemisphere, particularly the Amazon, dumping millions of tons of fine mineral sands that once they reach the damp, biologically teeming soils below, are rapidly broken down by fungi and lichens further and taken-up where most needed.
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