The DUST vs The Super Category 5 Cyclone -
Atmospheric dust blocking and absorbing the Cyclone GONU, June 3-9, 2007

Also see https://www.ecoseeds.com/GONU3.html and https://www.ecoseeds.com/newGONU.html

Copyright © 2011 by Craig Dremann, The Reveg Edge, Box 361,
Redwood City, CA 94064 USA (650) 325-7333

Gonu

Super Tropical Cyclone GONU on June 5, 2007 as a Category 3, 110-130 mph winds. Image from NASA's MODIS Rapid Response, contrast enhanced.

Gonu GONU at Category 5.

The series of images show the clouds surrounding the Super Cyclone GONU from June 3-9 in 2007, and the ability of the atmospheric dust to capture the storm, and then dissipate it. The images of the clouds were from the Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin at Madison, at https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/comp.

The images of the dust were from the archives at the US Navy NRL/Monterey Aerosol Page, for the Indian Ocean NAAPS at https://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/aerosol/

Both images have been cropped to center the Cyclone, and to enlarge each image to be about the same size, and examples of the original images are shown below. The dust levels shown are from 20 ug/m3 to 20,480 ug/m3, but the effect of the lowest measured levels of dust still has an impact of the storm.

What these series of images show, is that atmospheric dust may be the most powerful and least known climate modifier on the planet, especially regarding annual rainfall in the area from the Gobi desert through Arabia and North Africa.

Paired images are from the dates at 00:00Z time. GONU wind speeds from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2007/h2007_gonu.html


Gonu battle with dust

Gonu battle with
dust

Gonu battle
with dust

June 3, 2007, GONU bumping up against the atmospheric dust over Arabia. 165 mph winds with gusts to 195 mph, the highest wind speed recorded in a cyclone - Category 5, a Super Tropical Cyclone.

Gonu 
battle with dust Gonu battle
with dust

June 4, GONU making a divot in the dust, and captured, slowing down and not making land fall yet. 132 mph winds with peak 150 mph, Category 4.

Gonu 
battle with dust Gonu battle
with dust

June 5, GONU securely captured in the Gulf of Oman, with the dust acting like two sides of a vice, with only 1,000-2,000 ug/m3 able to slow down and hold fast to the Super Cyclone. Dust has slowed down the storm to Category 3, 111-130 mph winds.

Gonu 
battle with dust Gonu battle
with dust

June 6, paradoxically, the faster the winds, the more dust is raised off the barren lands of Arabia, and that dust sucked into the cyclone, which then weakens it. Landfall in the Sultanate of Oman at 90 mph, Category 1.

Gonu 
battle with dust Gonu battle
with dust

June 7, GONU completely surrounded by atmospheric dust, about to kill the storm.

Gonu 
battle with dust Gonu battle
with dust

June 8, GONU surrounded by dust, quickly dying.

Gonu 
battle with dust Gonu battle
with dust

June 9, GONU is killed by the dust, almost like an amoeba engulfing a meal. The rain clouds south of Arabia, once again, being kept away by the dust.

Gonu
GONU track from
https://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/GifArchive/nin2007.gif.
Conversion from knots to mph, 1 knot = 1.15 mph


See also https://www.ecoseeds.com/floods.html for the Pakistan floods of 2010 and https://www.ecoseeds.com/Saudi.html for an overall view of the Arabian rainfall, dust, vegetation and dew point interactions.

Updated December 20, 2022 - Go to The Reveg Edge website