NASA funding ensured that all the citizens of Puerto Rico received a warning before the dust storm that hit in the middle of a global pandemic. This dust storm was one of the biggest to ever hit the Sahara.
Such dust storms are a yearly occurrence, and bring with them many benefits like the fertilization of soil with a wide variety of nutrients like phosphorus. However, if there is too much of the dust then it can lead to disadvantages like too much growth of the algae. Dust and silica particles in it are also irritants that can worsen allergies, can reduce air clarity and cause itching and irritation in eyes, noses and throats of people.
The dust warning system can indicate early on when the dust storm is coming and can also track the amount of aerosols in the air. NASA has a system installed which is called the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. This instrument enables the scientists to view many particles in the air including bacteria, viruses and dust.
It is also used to measure the depth of these aerosols which in turn is an indicator of the amount of aerosols that are present in the air at that point in time. Another useful aspect of this is that scientists can tell where a certain cloud is coming from and that eventually enables them to predict what affects it will bring.
Méndez-Lázaro and his team held an event on Facebook where they appeared live so that they could warn the vulnerable groups of society to take precautions against the dust storm. This Facebook event generated an audience of 300,000 people. As this warning was issued beforehand, elderly, children and other immunocompromised groups of society were able to take necessary precautions beforehand.
Earth observations on earth, Méndez-Lázaro and his team developed this system of warnings over a period of three years by the funding of NASA who gave this grant in 2019. When the storm hit in 2020 an initial version of this system had been put in place.
This dust storm was named Godzilla and was so huge that it could even be observed in the International Space station by the astronauts. The team has also been working tirelessly to bring in these systems to the Virgin Islands in the US. More funding was given to them in 2020 so that they could properly investigate the role of this dust storm in the spread of the COVID-19 virus. They are still observing these effects and will report their findings in 2021.
A large amount of data on the is downloaded and analyzed everyday by NASA though its satellites encircling the earth. This information describes the changes in earth’s systems. The goal of this Applied Science program is to use this data to make better and well informed decisions about future policies and forecasting.
NASA has played an integral role in constantly bringing in new innovations to help people. The Sahara Dust warning system is a prime example of that, which also shows how American investment in NASA is paying off.
