How long does it take sand to get from the Sahara Desert to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico?

Question

I am looking for scientific data on how long it takes sand to make this trip naturally. I suspect millions of years but am not certain. If anyone can direct me to a web site for this I would appreciate it. I am also looking for data on how far out a storm surge travels from the center of a hurricane.

Answer 1

They are tracking this with the help of Satellites if it gets exactly to Yucatan Peninsula, I could not find it; but based on this info you can figure out it will depend of the wind patterns and also that if it happens through this medium it will be just a matter of days aprox. 6 days to cross the atlantic from July to October, also according to the article below it happens every year in the caribbean and Mexico's Gulf Coast and you are talking about tons of sand.

In the articles below you can find the names  of American Universities, and International Organizations, that you may contact and see if they have more specific information.

ALSO THIS PHENOMENA IS RELATED WITH HURRICANES:

Study Says Sahara Dust May Lower Atlantic Hurricane Frequency

A surprising link may lie between the frequency of Atlantic hurricanes and thick clouds of dust that

periodically rise from the Sahara Desert, U.S. scientists reported on Tuesday. During periods of

intense Atlantic hurricane activity, dust was relatively scarce in the Sahara atmosphere, while in

years when stronger Sahara dust storms rose up, fewer hurricanes swept through the Atlantic,

according to a report filed in the Oct. 10 issue of the Geophysical Research Letters.

  

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison put forward the intriguing theory after poring

over satellite data from 1981 to 2006. The Sahara sand rises when hot desert air collides with the

cooler, drier air of the southern region and forms wind. As particles swirl upward, strong trade

winds begin to blow them west into the northern Atlantic. Dust storms form primarily during

summer and winter months, but in some years they barely form at all. According to the

researchers, the dry, dust-ridden layers of air probably helps to "dampen" brewing hurricanes,

which need heat and moisture to fuel them. That effect could also mean that dust storms have the

potential to shift a hurricane's direction further to the west, which unfortunately means it would

have a higher chance of hitting the United States.

  

SATELLITE IMAGE OF SAHARA SANDS 2008.06.23

Over Brazil:

http://envisat.esa.int/live/brockmann_ar...

Article about Research of Sahara Sands reaching the Caribbean every year:

Environment Day-Caribbean: Sea, Sunshine ... And Sahara Sand

By Orlando Matos

Jun. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A beautiful, bright-red sunset seen from Caribbean beaches signals the annual arrival of dust from the Sahara desert, which could be harmful.

Millions of tons of dust reach the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the south of the United States, brought across the Atlantic by the winds. The dust is suspected of containing pollutants, and is being studied more closely by the scientific community in the last few decades.

The theme of World Environment Day 2006, celebrated on June 5, is Don't Desert Drylands! The slogan was chosen to highlight the risks faced by these ecosystems, which cover more than 40 percent of the planet's land surface.

Research is in progress to evaluate the impact of the dust scattered all over the islands every year, mainly from June to August....

However, only now, thanks to technological progress and the growing knowledge about the dust in the atmosphere, is the research gaining respect and recognition, Ortiz said.

He explained that the  project analyzes "anomalies of climate variability" by different scientific methods, as well as "how illnesses respond to climate change and variations."

Eugenio Mojena, another expert at the institute, told IPS that "in the last 30 years, 10 times more dust has been flung into the atmosphere," because there have been more sandstorms in the Sahara.

Ever since a continuing severe drought hit North Africa in 1970, there has been a dramatic increase in the dust clouds in that region, with especially high concentrations in 1973, 1983, 1987 and 2000.

It has been calculated that the atmosphere has accumulated between 2 billion and 3 billion tons of dust, mostly from deserts. Scientists consider this to pose a serious threat to the environment and to human health.

The airborne dust is monitored by "an international network of satellites," as well as "surface observations," which detect the "presence, distribution and movement of the particles, and the areas where they are deposited" on the island, Mojena explained.

This natural phenomenon has been occurring for millions of years, but according to Ortiz, "it is still not receiving as much attention as it should be" from the international scientific community -- an opinion shared by academics in other parts of the world.

According to Andrew Goudie, a geography professor at the University of Oxford, dust is one of the least understood components of the atmosphere, and could have a greater influence on climate change than has been realized up until now.

Mojena predicted