Increasing Dust Storms

In News

• Recently, over eight dust storms have hit Iraq, turning the skies orange and disrupting lives. 
  • Climate change is blamed to be the driving force.

About 

• Rising Frequency: 
  • West Asia is no stranger to dust storms. They strike every summer and winter. 
  • In recent years, however, their intensity and frequency have increased.
• Driving winds:
  • The storms are usually driven by Shamal or northwesterly winds. 
  • The winds lift dust from the Tigris-Euphrates basin of Syria and Iraq and transport it to the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula.
  • Iraq, which sits at the top of the Persian Gulf, helps in channelling winds. 
• Factors Responsible:
  • La Niña: 
    • It is a climate pattern that impacts weather worldwide. 
    • They can influence hurricane season, increase the chance of drought in some regions and trigger intense dust storms over west Asia.
    • It has been around for the last two years and is expected to make it to the third year as well.
    • During La Nina, the soil loses moisture, too. Dry sand more readily lifts in the air, leading to dust storms.
  • Climate change: 
    • Long-term changes in air temperature, rainfall, wind speed, soil moisture and relative humidity due to climate change may have had some part to play in fuelling the dust storms this year.
    • Environmental changes like the drying of marshes, land degradation and desertification are also responsible.
  • Annual rainfall drop: 
    • A drastic drop in the annual rainfall rate due to climate change can trigger sand and dust storms.
  • Drought is another potent ingredient in these storms.
  • Human activities: 
    • The industrial construction of dams weakens water streams throughout the region, thus adding to the severity of droughts.
    • Dwindling water underground and poor water management are significant contributors, the expert highlighted. 
    • Irrigation: Water-intensive irrigation systems used along the Iranian-Iraqi border are a factor too.
  • Draining of wetlands: Iraq lost up to 90 per cent of its marshes by 2000. The country needs to build better water management practices and adopt suitable irrigation methods to minimise the number of dust storms.

Sand and Dust storms

• Usually occur when strong winds lift large amounts of sand and dust from bare, dry soils into the atmosphere. 
• They are common meteorological hazards in arid and semi-arid regions. 
• They are usually caused by thunderstorms – or strong pressure gradients associated with cyclones – which increase wind speed over a wide area. 
• These strong winds lift large amounts of sand and dust from bare, dry soils into the atmosphere, transporting them hundreds to thousands of kilometres away. 

• Major Sources: 
  • The main sources of this mineral dust are the arid regions of Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia and China. 
  • Comparatively, Australia, America and South Africa make minor, but still important, contributions. 

Impacts 

• Impacts on the environment and society:
  • Impact on Heat Budget: The dust can impact the atmospheric chemistry and radiative budget, which is the balance between incoming solar energy and outgoing heat.
  • Pollution: Dust storms are like slow poison as they can transport a range of pollutants: Pesticides, Heavy metals, Particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) etc.
  • The dust has many negative impacts on agriculture, including reducing crop yields by burying seedlings, causing loss of plant tissue, reducing photosynthetic activity and increasing soil erosion.
  • Indirect dust deposit impacts include filling irrigation canals, covering transportation routes and affecting river and stream water quality.
  • Poor visibility conditions due to airborne dust also have an impact on air and land transport. 
  • Dust can impact the output of solar power plants, especially those that rely on direct solar radiation. 
• Human Health:
  • Particles larger than 10 μm are not breathable, thus can only damage external organs – mostly causing skin and eye irritations, conjunctivitis and enhanced susceptibility to ocular infection. 
  • Inhalable particles, those smaller than 10 μm, often get trapped in the nose, mouth and upper respiratory tract thus can be associated with respiratory disorders such as asthma, tracheitis, pneumonia, allergic rhinitis and silicosis. 

• Dust also plays a role in the transmission of valley fever – a potentially deadly disease – in the Southwest of the United States and in Northern Mexico by acting as a transporter of Coccidioides fungi spores.

Impact on India

• Affects Western Parts:
  • The Arabian Peninsula is one of India’s major sources of dust storms. Dust from the Arabian Peninsula reaches over the western parts of India, in Rajasthan after passing through Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan
  • The other sources are local, from the Thar desert and the Rann of Kutch.
• Melting Ice of Himalayas: 
  • The dust touches the Himalayas and can reach the Indo-Gangetic plain too, depending on temperature, wind speed and other meteorological conditions. It can also blow over Assam and Bangladesh.
  • The dust settles on the Himalayas, creating streaks of red and brown on the snow. 
  • As a result, it absorbs more sun, hastening its melting.
• Disturbing Monsoon: 
  • The ongoing westerly desert winds from the Arabian Peninsula also can cause heat waves during the summer season in India which can influence the country’s monsoon. 

Global Efforts 

• The WMO Sand and Dust Storm (SDS) Project 
  • It was initiated in 2004 and its Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS) was launched by the Fifteenth World Meteorological Congress in 2007.
  • SDS-WAS enhances the ability of countries to deliver timely, quality sand and dust storm forecasts, observations, information and knowledge to users through an international partnership of research and operational communities.

• Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storm (SDS): 
  • The United Nations Coalition on Combating SDS was launched at COP 14. 
  • The key objectives of the Coalition include 
    • Preparing a global response to SDS, including a strategy and action plan, which could result in development of a United Nations system-wide approach to addressing SDS
    • Identifying entry points to support countries and regions affected by SDS in the implementation of cross-sectoral and transboundary risk reduction and response measures for SDS.
    • Preparing a platform for engaging with partners and enhancing dialogue and collaboration among affected countries and the United Nations system agencies at global, regional, and subregional levels.

Way Ahead

• Building a coordinated  air quality monitoring and early warning system.
• Strengthening the network of forecast centres to enhance regional and international cooperation. 

Source: DTE