More dust storms predicted, may carry radiation
Dust storm born out of flooding rains
ABC Science 23 September 2009 Darren Osborne
“………………..with climate change set to bring more variability, Australia may experience more large scale dust storms in the future.This week’s dust storm covered a large area of eastern Australia, with PM10 (particles less than 10 micrometres) levels in most Australian cities being well above safe levels.
“They’re classed as dangerous at levels above 200 micrograms per cubic metre,” says ABC weather forecaster Graham Creed.
……………..Severe weather forecaster Dr Deryn Griffiths of the Bureau of Meteorology says the dust storm started two days ago, when 100 kilometre per hour winds whipped up dust from the central region of Australia.
“It started in South Australia and has since extended across all of New South Wales and into Queensland.”
She says extremely dry conditions throughout the interior of the country along with strong winds provided the perfect recipe for the dust storm.
Climate change Climatologist Dr Samuel Marx of the University of Queensland says future climate modelling by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests this may happen more often in the future.
“One of the predictions of the IPCC is that the Australian climate will be more variable and this should probably result in more dust storms.”But Marx says the role of dust in climate modelling is still a large unknown.”It changes the thermal structure of the atmosphere.
Dust particles can absorb radiation and reflect radiation – it really depends on the characteristics of the dust and where it is being transferred,” he says.
Dust storm born out of flooding rains › News in Science (ABC Science)
No comments yet.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
Leave a comment