Abstract
A large area of North Africa has been affected by a drought which began in the late 1960s and which has resulted in widespread crop failures, starvation and death. At the same time, there has been a great increase in the concentration of mineral aerosol in the trade winds over the western North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean, especially in the early 1970s and again in the early 1980s, when the drought was most severe. Concentrations in 1983 and 1984 were unprecedented and exceeded pre-drought means by a factor of four. Here we show that spring–summer dust concentrations at Barbados (13° 10′N, 50°30′ W) are correlated to rainfall deficits in the sub-Sahara. Winter dust concentrations, which are normally at a seasonal low, also increased during the drought; concentrations in 1982–1983 were ten times greater than predrought values, and appeared to be related to large-scale circulation changes associated with El Ni˜o rather than to the drought itself.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Prospero, J. M. & Nees, R. T. Science 196, 1196–1198 (1977).
Glaccum, R. A. & Prospero, J. M. Mar. Geol. 37, 295–321 (1980).
Prospero, J. M., Glaccum, R. A. & Nees, R. T. Nature 289, 570–572 (1981).
Prospero, J. M., Savoie, D. L., Carlson, T. N. & Nees, R. T. in Saharan Dust: Mobilization, Transport, Deposition (ed. Morales, C.) 171–186 (Wiley, New York, 1979).
Prospero, J. M. in The Sea Vol. 7 (ed. Emiliani, C.) 801–874 (Wiley, New York, 1981).
Prospero, J. M. & Carlson, T. N. J. geophys. Res. 77, 5255–5265 (1972).
Carlson, T. N. & Prospero, J. M. J. appl. Met. 11, 283–297 (1972).
Delany, A. C. et al. Geochim. cosmochim. Acta 31, 885–909 (1967).
Schutz, L. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 338, 515–532 (1980).
Carlson, T. N. & Benjamin, S. G. J. atmos. Sci. 37, 193–213 (1980).
Carlson, T. N. & Caverly, R. S. J. geophys. Res. 82, 3141–3152 (1977).
Carlson, T. N. Mon. Weath. Rev. U.S. Dep. Agric. 107, 322–355 (1979).
Prospero, J. M. & Carlson, T. N. in Weather and Weather Maps (ed. Liljequist, G. H.) 677–691 (Birkhauser, Basel, 1981).
Lamb, P. J. J. clim. 3, 419–422 (1983).
Lamb, P. J. Z. Gletscherk. Glazialgeol. (submitted).
Nicholson, S. E. Mon. Weath. Rev. U.S. Dep. Agric. 111, 1646–1654 (1983).
Climate Diagnostics Bull., November (NOAA National Weather Service, Washington, 1983).
Carder, K. L., Steward, R. G., Betzer, P. R., Johnson, D. L. & Prospero, J. M. J. geophys. Res. (in the press).
Prospero, J. M., Nees, R. T. & Uematsu, M. Eos 66, 1309 (1985).
Middleton, N. J. Nature 316, 431–434 (1985).
Pewe, T. L. (ed.) Spec. Pap. geol. Soc. Am. 186, (1981).
Morales, C. (ed.) in Saharan Dust: Mobilization, Transport, Deposition, 119–132 (Wiley, New York, 1979).
Goudie, A. S. Prog. phys. Geogr. 7, 502–530 (1983).
Rea, D. K., Leinen, M. & Janecek, T. R. Science 227, 721 (1985).
Prospero, J. M. Nature 315, 279–280 (1985).
Coakley, J. A. Jr & Cess, R. D. J. atmos. Sci. 42, 1677–1692 (1985).
Brinkman, A. W. & McGregor, J. Q. Jl R. met. Soc. 109, 831–847 (1983).
National Research council The Effects in the Atmosphere of a Major Nuclear Exchange (National Academy Press, Washington, 1985).
Uematsu, M. et al. J. geophys. Res. 90, 5343–5352 (1983).
Blank, M., Leinen, M. & Prospero, J. M. Nature 314, 84–85 (1985).
Uematsu, M., Duce, R. A. & Prospero, J. M. J. atmos. Chem. 3, 123–138 (1985).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Prospero, J., Nees, R. Impact of the North African drought and El Niño on mineral dust in the Barbados trade winds. Nature 320, 735–738 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/320735a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/320735a0
This article is cited by
-
Saharan dust and giant quartz particle transport towards Iceland
Scientific Reports (2021)
-
Do Cloud Properties in a Puerto Rican Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Depend on Occurrence of Long-Range Transported African Dust?
Pure and Applied Geophysics (2014)
-
Satellite-based assessment of large-scale land cover change in Asian arid regions in the period of 2001–2009
Environmental Earth Sciences (2014)
-
Contributions of dust to phosphorus cycling in tropical forests of the Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico
Biogeochemistry (2009)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
