Dust storm

A dust storm (or sandstorm in some contexts) is a meteorological phenomenon common on the Great Plains of North America, in Arabia, the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, the Taklamakan Desert of northwest China, the Sahara Desert of northern Africa,Thar Desert of India and other arid and semi-arid regions. Such a storm is usually the result of convection currents created by intense heating of the ground. The air over the sand becomes hot, and rises. This creates differences in air pressure and temperature, and the cooler winds begin to rush in. The wind is strong enough to move dunes, and it often interferes with travel, sometimes obliterating roads in flat dry regions such as those of the western United States. The simoom (s?m?n) is the dust- and sand-laden desert wind of N Africa and Arabia that contributes largely to the atmospheric dust over Europe; evidence of the dust from simoon winds has also been found on the seafloor at considerable distances from shore. The haboob (h?b?b) is a sandstorm prevalent in the region of Sudan around Khartoum. Sandstorms, the leading edges of which often appear as solid walls of dust as much as 5,000 ft (1,525 m) high, also occur, although less frequently, in the SW United States. One that occurred near Tucson, Arizona, on July 16 1971, was extensively documented by meteorologists. Similar duststorms from windborne particles are evident on the planet Mars and are thought to be seasonal. Severe dust storms can reduce visibility to zero, making travel impossible, and can blow away valuable topsoil, while depositing soil in places where it may not be wanted. Drought and wind contribute to the emergence of dust storms, as do poor farming and grazing practices. The dust picked up in such a storm can be carried thousands of kilometers: Sahara dust storms influence plankton growth in the western Atlantic Ocean and, according to some scientists, are an important source of scarce minerals for the plants of the Amazon rainforest.

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Dust storms can often be observed from satellite photos.

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A sandstorm is a low-level atmospheric disturbance caused by a strong wind carrying sand particles through the air. They are typically no more than fifty feet above the ground, and are most typically about ten feet high. Surface heating causes sandstorms during the day, and they usually end by nightfall.

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Meteorological phenomenon: A meteorological phenomenon is one of several commonplace or unusual weather events which illuminate and are explained by the principles of meteorology....

Great Plains: :For the accounting software by the same name, see Great Plains (accounting)....

North America: North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere, bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of 9,355,000 square miles (24,230,000 square kilometers). In 2...

Dust storm related Images and Photos (experimental)

Storm	Storm Cloud	Storm Force	Storm Shine
Storm Center (1956)	Storm Surfer	Storm Clouds	Red Dust (DVD)
Mortal Storm, The (DVD)	The Storm	The Storm	The Storm