A dust storm surrounds the Arabian Sea
At the end of January 2022, a major dust storm covered the Arabian Sea. The dusty pillars of the desert affected the populated areas around the basin as winds carried particles over Karachi, Mumbai and many other cities and reduced air quality.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIRS) at NOAA-NASA Finnish nuclear power plant the satellite received this image on January 22, 2022, as dust clouds flowed from Oman, Pakistan, and Iran. Notice the particularly thick spots off the coast of Pakistan. Visibility in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, dropped to about 500 meters (1,600 feet).
The dust rose from three different countries, but it merged into a great flood that threw much of the Arabian Sea. By Hiren JethvaA spot researcher at Morgan State University, who works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, was “quite significant” in size, as was its unusual route.
Initially, on January 21, strong winds associated with the low-pressure system picked up dust and carried it southeast. On January 22, dust blew over the sea and then caught east. By 23 January, dust had covered the West Indies, cover the states From Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
According to Jethva, winter winds usually blow from India towards the Arabian Sea and carry various aerosols from local pollution and biomass combustion. “However, it is likely that a change in wind direction has taken place and brought dust from the ocean to the Indian subcontinent,” Jethva said.
Dust hovered in the air for days. In Mumbai, the air quality index on January 24 was “severe”, the highest of the six categories country index. According to news reports, the high air quality index in Mumbai is “unprecedented”. To the southeast, the city of Pune saw air quality in the “very poor” category, and it was worse that day than Delhi, where temperature fluctuations often affect winter air quality.
The dust storm was accompanied by cold weather. By News reportsMumbai dust affected the city’s lowest daytime temperature in January in a decade, and was only 23.8 ° C on January 23rd. The average daily temperature in January is 31 ° C (88 ° F).
Lauren Dauphin’s NASA Earth Observatory image using NASA’s EOSDIS VIIRS data LANCE, GIBS / Worldviewand Finland’s national polar partnership. The story of Kathryn Hansen.