Researchers are confident that desert dust absorbs far less radiation than previously thought.
Pictured here, a satellite image of dust blowing off the Sahara Desert. Scientists studying the Sahara Desert have found that dust particles absorb much less heat from the sun than previously thought, possibly reducing the amount of solar warming of the Earth's surface. This means that the Earth's surface receives less warmth in areas where dust lingers in the atmosphere since the dust particles reflect that radiation back into space. The results, published in the April 15 issue of the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research Letters, suggest that Saharan dust absorption results could be representative of desert dust properties around the world. So, more dust in the atmosphere will lower current estimates of warming temperatures in those areas.