Now that it was confirmed that Bi Fang was fine for the time being, the audience naturally asked the questions they were most concerned about.
Why do we encounter sandstorms in Greenland?
And is this really a sandstorm?
Could it be that I saw it wrong?
A series of questions flooded the live broadcast room, which is normal. In most people's minds, the places with sandstorms are either deserts or grasslands. How could there be such a thing in Greenland?
Upon seeing this, Bi Fang directly stretched out his hand to the outside of the fur. After a while, he retracted it, leaving everyone confused. After Bi Fang spread his hand, took out the drone and turned on the night mode, everyone saw it.
Clearly, it seems that not all the snowflakes in my palm are snowflakes.
Bi Fang rubbed it and took a breath of hot air. Part of the snowflake gradually melted, but in the end there was still a part of the solid substance left, which still looked white and shiny in night vision mode.
"You see, it is indeed sand."
"While dust is typically associated with deserts, significant dust events often occur at high latitudes, where winds are occasionally strong enough to blow underground sediments along the coast."
"Greenland can be said to be one of the places with the highest latitude, and nature is no exception, so this phenomenon can often be observed here, and the dust in the wind is mainly glacial powder, which is a kind of glacial powder.
Fine-grained silt formed by grinding up rock.”
"This kind of dust is very light, and the wind can easily blow it into the air. It is most common during the transition period from summer to winter, which is autumn. We came at the wrong time and caught up with everything.
"
Bi Fang laughed at himself.
Although the mission of surviving for 100 days begins in autumn, and every day before entering eternal night is a highly efficient period for accumulating survival resources, autumn is also a very unstable time.
From summer to winter, this dynamic change is extremely unstable, and this instability is also the root cause of frequent sandstorms and snowstorms.
"In summer, temperatures are high, and fast-flowing streams and rivers carry meltwater away from the ice sheet and toward the ocean. But once autumn arrives, colder temperatures cause the melting rate to slow down, and the rivers gradually recede, exposing large areas of glacial silt."
"This silt is equivalent to the sand we see in the desert, providing one of the most critical conditions for the three major causes of sandstorms."
The audience suddenly realized.
"In simple terms, glacial powder is produced by several glaciers above the valley, and winds are triggered by a combination of a low-pressure system across the Greenland Ice Sheet and a high-pressure ridge that follows it, causing flooding as stream levels drop in the fall.
If the area dries up, the exposed silt will be easily washed away by the wind."
"The silt is exposed on the surface. When there is snowfall, it will naturally prevent the wind from blowing up more dust. However, large areas of snow melt in summer and a thick enough snow layer is not accumulated. Once strong winds arise, sandstorms will naturally occur.
Appeared."
【What a simple explanation!】
[Can you please say it in words that an idiot can understand?]
[I wonder if Lao Fang misunderstood the meaning of the word simple (dog head)]
In the transitional stage from melting to freezing, autumn has become such a turbulent time.
Bi Fang was a little puzzled. He had only had daylight for the past twenty days, but ended up spending most of the time in such bad weather. The task was more difficult than he thought.
"But you don't have to worry too much. The sandstorms in Greenland are not that severe. The main thing is to be careful of snowstorms."
"Comparing the Sahara Desert horizontally, the wind convection there can throw dust high into the atmosphere, but the dust height in Greenland is relatively low, no more than one to two kilometers high."
The difference in dust height ultimately makes Greenland's dust storms completely different from the massive dust clouds that exist over the Sahara Desert for several days.
This key point makes it less likely that Bifang will be completely buried. Hiding in a confined space, you don’t have to worry too much about being completely buried alive.
Depending on the sand content, the power of sandstorms is also very different. Usually the amount of sand in cities is not that large. The main things to be careful of are strong winds and respiratory diseases caused by sand.
The Sahara Desert is truly terrifying. Changes in the terrain are commonplace. Travelers often drive over in off-road vehicles, only to be completely buried alive by a sandstorm and no one can be found.
"However, although the height is not high, Greenland's advantage is that the wind is very strong, and occasionally it can be strong enough to blow sediments from dry lakes, river valleys and flood plains directly to the coastline at once."
"This dust can travel hundreds of kilometers in a day, and may even be carried far away from the coast. The advantage is that it is possible to bring nutrients in the dust to areas where nutrients are not easily available. It is an alternative method.
Let’s redistribute it.”
Because few people live there, sandstorms in Greenland not only do no harm, but also have quite a lot of benefits.
At high latitudes, atmospheric dust affects the formation of ice cores, while surface dust reduces surface albedo and accelerates subsequent ice melting.
Dust can also serve as ice nucleation particles in the atmosphere, affecting the formation of clouds and thereby affecting the process of solar radiation.
Airborne dust transport may also provide a mechanism for moving sediments and nutrients between disconnected sites in the dry Arctic where hydrological connectivity is limited, and dust deposition can influence soil formation on the island, replenishing land and sea
of nutrients, allowing nearby creatures to live better.
It can even help scientific research. The aeolian mineral dust on the ice sheet can also provide key information about climate change. Geologists can study the global climate in various periods by studying ice cores and dust.
Past ice core dust records reveal the concentration, composition, particle size and morphology of minerals during the formation of glaciers, just like the growth rings of a large tree, helping to study the formation process of glaciers and whether there are major climate and geological changes in the process.
.
But for Bi Fang now, it's really not that good.
After explaining so much, the audience finally understood why there are sandstorms in Greenland. Not only did they marvel at the wonder of nature, but it was also full of trouble.
"I hope it can end as soon as possible."
Bi Fang sighed. There was nothing he could do now but wait for the disaster to pass.
The good news is that you can see food when you look up, and there is plenty of it, so much that it will definitely be enough until the disaster passes.
"Woo."
Goudan whimpered. For it, it lost not only its freedom, but also its handsome horn helmet.
I don't know if I can get it back after everything is over.