Weyland is in Florida ready to breathe in The African Dust cloud

[Weyland]

I'll let you know live from the Sunshine State what the African poisonous cloud is doing.

[h3rm35]

huh? could you elaborate a bit? does it have anything to do with this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul...vu-co2-gas ?

[Easy Skanking]

If I were you, I'd be more concerned with breathing fumes from the gulf that contain petroleum, Corexit and benzene among other nasty stuff.

[hilly7]

Elaborate please...

[Weyland]

(07-21-2010 02:33 AM)hilly7 Wrote:  Elaborate please...

Oh its this.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2005/07/28/...lorida.htm

African Dust Cloud Moves Over Florida
Thursday July 28, 2005
In news you probably won’t read elsewhere, a team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is tracking and collecting samples from a large African dust cloud that originated in the Sahara Desert and is moving over parts of Florida and the Caribbean. The dust cloud is the largest the team has seen since they began studying these events in 1997. The size of this event is likely related to a significant drought in West Africa last year.
Millions of tons of dust are transported across the Atlantic Ocean annually. Although the transport of African dust has occurred over geologic time, the quantities have increased and the composition has changed over the last 40 years. The research is part of an ongoing investigation identifying the chemical contaminants and microorganisms traveling with the dust and their effects on ecosystem and human health. The USGS is investigating the link between African dust and declines on coral reefs throughout the Caribbean region and the relation between dust episodes and asthma attacks. Dust clouds may also play an important role in suppressing hurricane development. [Source: USGS]

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And This

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...Id=4775192


Copyright © 2005 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

MADELEINE BRAND, host:

I'm Madeleine Brand, and this is DAY TO DAY.

The Caribbean islands and south Florida are bracing for their next major weather event. It's not a hurricane, though; it's a dust storm, an enormous cloud of red sand. And get this: It's kicked up in the Sahara Desert and rides the trade winds all the way across the Atlantic. One person who's spent his career watching this sort of event is Dr. Joseph Prospero. He's a professor of marine and atmospheric science at the University of Miami in Florida.

And welcome to the program.

Dr. JOSEPH PROSPERO (University of Miami): Thank you.

BRAND: So a dust storm all the way from the Sahara. How does the dust get to Miami?

Dr. PROSPERO: Well, during the summer months, Miami and--well, much of the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean lies in the trade wind belt. So in Africa, you generate dust and it gets lifted up in the atmosphere and it gets caught up in the trade wind circulation, and the dust goes where the trade wind goes. So we get dust here in Miami.

BRAND: So even though it's riding the winds, it doesn't necessarily get put out, if you will, or moistened by the clouds?

Dr. PROSPERO: Well, when the dust-laden air interacts with a tropical storm or a random cloud in the trade winds, it will be removed by precipitation processes. It will rain out and be deposited on the ocean surface or on islands. And, in fact, much of the soils in the Caribbean islands is derived from African dust, so it does contribute something to the islands. So, yes, there is the removal of dust during the transport process, but a lot of it remains in the atmosphere because a large part of the Atlantic doesn't experience much rain at this time of year, particularly the eastern Atlantic. So it travels quite far.

BRAND: So what does it look like? Does it look simply like a hazy day?

Dr. PROSPERO: Yes, it looks like a very hazy day, and you get very much reduced visibility. Our school is located on Virginia Key; we're about, oh, three or four miles from the shoreline. And when I look to downtown Miami, the buildings will be quite hazy and, you know, relatively obscure. Instead of seeing deep, blue skies, you see a sort of, you know, a milky sort of sky. And around the sun, there'll be a very large aureole. That is, light is scattered by the dust and it forms this large, lit, brilliant area around the sun, and it extends out quite a distance. So it's quite apparent.

BRAND: And I suppose down on the ground things get dusty.

Dr. PROSPERO: Yes, yes. But actually, most of the dust is carried at higher altitudes. The dust typically in the Miami area will extend, oh, to 10, 12,000 feet. And most of it is below that level; some will get higher. But you may very well have the highest concentrations aloft within this what we call the Saharan air layer, which has very characteristic properties. It's a dry, hot layer of air and it has a lot of dust in it.

BRAND: And is this only a eastern United States-Caribbean phenomenon, or do dust storms happen all over?

Dr. PROSPERO: Well, there are a lot of dusty places on our Earth. After all, about 30 percent of the Earth's surface is arid, desert. Africa is probably the single largest source in terms of the amount of material generated and transported over great distances, but there--China puts out a lot of dust every year and, of course, the Middle East. We often see that in the news clips on television in the evening when they show scenes from Iraq. And you'll often notice that it is quite hazy. It's because there's a lot of dust generated in that region.

BRAND: Joseph Prospero is a professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Florida.

Thanks for joining us.

Dr. PROSPERO: You're quite welcome.

BRAND: DAY TO DAY returns in a moment. I'm Madeleine Brand.

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[yeti]

(07-21-2010 06:05 AM)Weyland Wrote:  African Dust Cloud Moves Over Florida
Thursday July 28, 2005

Ouch - that's one long-living cloud! I guess since it spent the last 5 years in Florida, it must really like the place...

[Shinobi]

Theres a hurricane brewing not far from there.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/20/17...ength.html

[---]

enter Corexit

[hilly7]

That is wild, I have never heard of it before. Let us know and if it is visible take a pic of this thing.

[Weyland]

I am gonna go snort some of the cloud and i'll I let you know. : 0

[hilly7]