Name: NASA | Satellite Tracks Saharan Dust to Amazon in 3-D
Uploaded: 2018-11-20T13:16:46.000Z
Duration: 2 min 14 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

NASA scientists have performed the first multi-year study

using satellite data to measure the 3-D distribution of dust

that travels from the Sahara Desert to the Amazon rainforest.

The Sahara is the world's largest desert.

it's almost the size of the continental United States.

Each year, Saharan dust is lifted from the ground,

and transported by winds on a 3000-mile journey

A portion of the dust collects in the Amazon basin

no larger than around a tenth of the width of a human hair,

they form massive plumes that can be seen from space.

NASA's CALIPSO satellite was launched in 2006

to study the vertical structure of clouds and particles

CALIPSO observations from 2007 through 2013

182 million tons of dust leaves Africa each year.

which is an important nutrient for plants.

In the tropic region, the phosphorus is quite limited.

So it's important to estimate how much dust

from the desert is transported to the Amazon.

The study shows Saharan dust adds phosphorous to the soils

However, the amount of dust transported to the Amazon

According to the study, this variation is closely associated

a belt of semi-arid land just south of the Sahara.

When the Sahel was dry, the dust transport to the Amazon

Using satellites to get a clear picture of dust is important

for understanding, and eventually using computers to model

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NASA | Satellite Tracks Saharan Dust to Amazon in 3-D

eventually

massive

journey

average