Rare deluge floods parts of the Sahara desert for the first time in decades
사하라 사막 홍수 발생.
야자수와 사막 언덕 사이로 푸른 '늪'이 생겨남.
모로코 동남쪽 사막에 이틀 간 쏟아진 비.
이 지역 연간 강수량은 254mm(10 인치 ) 이하. 타타 (Tata) 지역 포함.
타구닛 (Tagounite) 지역. 99mm (3.9 인치) 강수량.
50년간 메말랐던 이리퀴 호수에 물이 채워졌다.
유아벱 (Youabeb) 이라는 기상학자의 설명. 비는 온대성 폭풍우 (an extratropical storm)로, 향후 이 지역 기후를 변화시킬 것이다. 대기 중에 습기가 더 많아지고, 더 많은 수증기를 발생시키고, 이러한 폭풍의 빈도 수를 높일 것이다.
6년 연속 가뭄에 시달렸던 모로코에서는, 농부들이 농사를 포기하고, 주민들은 물을 제한적으로 공급받고 있었다.
이번 비로 인해, 지하수를 품고 있는 대수층 (애퀴퍼 aquifer)에 물을 저장할 수 있게 되었다.
그러나 이번 9월 비가 얼마나 가뭄을 해갈시킬 수 있을 지는 아직 불투명하다.
사막과 오아시스 통해 쏟아진 물 때문에, 모로코와 알제리에서는 20명 이상 사망했고, 농부들의 수확에 손해를 입혔다.
Updated on: October 12, 2024 / 11:01 PM EDT / CBS/AP
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sahara-desert-flooding-morocco/
Rare deluge floods parts of the Sahara desert for the first time in decades
A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara desert.
www.cbsnews.com
A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara desert, nourishing some of its driest regions with more water than they had seen in decades.
Southeastern Morocco's desert is among the most arid places in the world and rarely experiences rain in late summer.
The Moroccan government said two days of rainfall in September exceeded yearly averages in several areas that see less than 10 inches annually, including Tata, one of the areas hit hardest.
In Tagounite, a village about 280 miles south of the capital, Rabat, more than 3.9 inches were recorded in a 24-hour period.
The storms left striking images of water gushing through the Saharan sands amid castles and desert flora. NASA
satellites showed water rushing in to fill Lake Iriqui, a famous lake bed between Zagora and Tata that had been dry for 50 years.
Palm trees are reflected in a lake caused by heavy rainfall in the desert town of Merzouga, near Rachidia, southeastern Morocco, Oct. 2, 2024.
AP Photo
According to NASA, such an occurrence is so rare in the region that a lake in Algeria, Sebkha el Melah, had only been filled six times from 2000-2021.
In desert communities frequented by tourists, 4x4s motored through the puddles and residents surveyed the scene in awe.
"It's been 30 to 50 years since we've had this much rain in such a short space of time," said Houssine Youabeb of Morocco's General Directorate of Meteorology.
Such rains, which meteorologists are calling an extratropical storm, may change the course of the region's weather in months and years to come as the air retains more moisture, causing more evaporation and drawing more storms, Youabeb said.
Palm trees are flooded in a lake caused by heavy rainfall in the desert town of Merzouga, near Rachidia, southeastern Morocco, Oct. 2, 2024.
Six consecutive years of drought have posed challenges for much of Morocco, forcing farmers to leave fields fallow and cities and villages to ration water.
The bounty of rainfall will likely help refill the large groundwater aquifers beneath the desert that are relied upon to supply water in desert communities.
The region's dammed reservoirs reported refilling at record rates throughout September. However, it's unclear how far September's rains will go toward alleviating drought.
Water gushing through the sands and oases left more than 20 dead in Morocco and Algeria and damaged farmers' harvests, forcing the government to allocate emergency relief funds, including in some areas affected by last year's earthquake.
