Saharan Dust
The day illuminated without warning; the sun was unable to pierce the dense fog that surrounded us. We were in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands, yet we could not see them. When I stepped out onto the deck, I encountered Jakob, who was tuning into a high-frequency radio. He said to me, “If we cannot see the islands, at least, let’s try to listen to their music.”
High frequency radio receiving radio station from Cape Verde.
The deck of the ship was carpeted with golden dust that caught our attention. It didn’t take long for us to realize that the mist enveloping us was something entirely different: it was the very sand of the Sahara Desert, the desert itself embarking on its transatlantic journey.
This phenomenon is known as “Saharan Dust” or “Yellow Wind,” originating from the fact that Sahara sand is extremely fine. When the wind blows, it becomes suspended in the air, capable of traveling with the prevailing wind currents. Sahara sand reaches almost every corner of our planet; it can be found in the Amazon, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and even in Japan.
Dust cloud on the horizon.
The dust cloud surrounding us was immense; it was the very earth mingling with the seascape. Everything was infused with the scent of sand, rather than the scent of the sea. Two theoretically contradictory elements merged—the ocean and the desert.
The truth is that we had been unable to predict this phenomenon. How many days would it last? What effects does this event have on the nature of each continent?
We were able to monitor the trajectory of the yellow wind following a forecast from the National University of Athens, and we saw that the cloud's path would stretch from east to west, initially covering a width of up to four degrees of latitude, finally reaching the northern coast of Brazil and the Caribbean islands. In our case, we would be sailing beneath the dust cloud for at least three days.
National University of Athens Forecast
An extraordinary aspect of this phenomenon is that when Sahara sand reaches the Amazon rainforest, it provides the soil with a significant amount of phosphorus, an element that is scarce in the land of the Amazon. Without the yellow wind, the rainforest would not have the fertility it possesses today. It is not an exaggeration to say that, to some extent, the Sahara Desert is responsible for the health of the most important rainforest on our planet.
Although the existence of Sahara dust has always been known, it is only recently that satellites like NASA’s CALIPSO have been able to collect relevant information and data about the behavior and trajectory of this suspended sand. For example, it is now known that at least 27.7 million tons of this dust descend upon the Amazon Basin. Furthermore, monitoring has allowed meteorologists to study and speculate on the influence of Sahara sand on hurricane development.
On the 3rd day the sun manages to break through the sand cloud.
Today, December 20, marks three days of sailing within this cloud of sand, surrounded by a narrow horizon, unable to see the sunrise or sunset. But at last, tonight, the sky clears for the first time, and the stars gather and disperse across the firmament, forming the perfect shape that Nature intended from the very beginning.
Domingo Abelli
Filmmaker
