NASA Satellite Traces Dust from the Sahara to the Amazon

A NASA satellite has discovered the connection between dust from the Sahara desert to flourishing life in the Amazon rain forest. Strong winds blow dust – 27.7 million tons per year –  from the Sahara across the Atlantic Ocean  to the Amazon. Data was collected by NASA’s Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite from 2007 to 2013.

According to a recent article by NASA, “the dust picked up from the Bodélé Depression in Chad, an ancient lake bed where rock minerals composed of dead microorganisms are loaded with phosphorus.” Phosphorus is an important provider of nutrients for adequate growth to the flourishing plants in the Amazon rain forest. In the Amazon, phosphorus acts like a fertilizer, but much of it is washed away by rain and flooding. However, it is estimated that the amount of phosphorus that is carried on the trans-Atlantic journey from the Sahara (22,000 tons per year) is close to the amount the rain forest loses.

The dust findings are a part of even greater research on the role of dust and aerosols on climate change. Hongbin Yu, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Maryland who also works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center stated the following on the importance of dust:

“We know that dust is very important in many ways. It is an essential component of the Earth system. Dust will affect climate and, at the same time, climate change will affect dust,” said Yu. To understand what those effects may be, “First we have to try to answer two basic questions. How much dust is transported? And what is the relationship between the amount of dust transport and climate indicators?”

For more information on this topic, be sure to visit NASA’s website.