05 December Thursday

Sahara Desert Turns Green; NASA Shares Image of Transformation

Web Desk‌Updated: Tuesday Oct 1, 2024

photo credit: x

The Sahara Desert, one of the driest areas on the planet, is experiencing a burst of greenery due to heavy rainfall. The rain, which followed a cyclone on September 7 and 8, triggered the growth of vegetation in parts of Northwest Africa. NASA's satellite images have detected this presence of greenery.

Regions in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, which rarely receive rain, are now showing traces of green, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. However, scientists say that the greenery in the Sahara is not a new phenomenon. Research by Peter Dimmock, president of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, suggests that vegetation and lakes existed in the Sahara 5,000 years ago.

Moshe Armon, a professor at the Institute of Earth Sciences at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, states that recent flooding in Africa has resulted in normally dry lakes being filled with water. The World Food Program and the Associated Press report that rainfall has significantly impacted sparsely populated regions in Africa. Due to the flooding, over 1,000 people have died, and around 4 million people across 14 African countries are suffering.
 

 Top