Nature never ceases to surprise us over the years. To climate change, caused by man, new atmospheric phenomena never seen before are added. A scientist specialized in studying the atmosphere discovered a new type of storm in the Indian Ocean. These are compact storms called “atmospheric lakes”
What are atmospheric lakes?
They are moisture-laden, slow-moving, and carry water to the eastern coasts of Africa. Other known storms form a vortex at their center. This new meteorological phenomenon creates lakes because of their high concentration of steam. They are very dense and cause a large amount of rainfall.
Atmospheric lakes can be compared to atmospheric rivers, already known. These atmospheric rivers are in the form of plumes, narrow and long with dense moisture and move quickly.
In contrast, atmospheric lakes are separated from the phenomenon that generates them and move slowly towards the coast. This occurs because in the area where they occur, the wind is almost imperceptible. These phenomena bring water to the east coast of Africa, where the area is semi-arid.
Who is the one who discovered the new type of storm in the Indian Ocean?
Atmospheric scientist Brian Mapes studied this new type of storm. Mapes works at the University of Miami and his research was presented at the AGU Fall 2021 Meeting. He collected satellite data for five years.
Thanks to this data Mapes detected 17 atmospheric lakes. These storms had an average duration of more than six days. The study covered five years, where storms were detected in all seasons and within 10° of the equator. Although, according to the American Geophysical Union (AGU), they can also occur in other places far from the equator. In that case, they usually become tropical cyclones.
They will continue to study this new atmospheric phenomenon
A team is currently being assembled to be able to study this new meteorological phenomenon further. One of the reasons is to find out why these “atmospheric lakes” separate from the river lakes that form them.
The winds that carry these types of storms onshore are close to zero. That is to say that they have almost no speed and are imperceptible. This type of phenomenon can also help the water-starved east coast of Africa.
While this atmospheric phenomenon is new, it does not mean that it has never occurred before. Nor does it have anything to do with climate change. However, climate change may help in its formation to irrigate an area as arid as the East African coast. These atmospheric lakes can create lagoons a thousand kilometres across when they drain.
