atmospheric storms. Australia has been hit by a massive dust storm and residents are being asked to stay indoors. extraterrestrial dust storms

Dust storm is a kind of dry wind, characterized by strong winds, carrying huge masses of soil and sand particles over long distances. dusty or sandstorms fall asleep agricultural land, buildings, structures, roads, etc. with a layer of dust and sand, reaching several tens of centimeters. At the same time, the area on which dust or sand falls can reach hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of square kilometers.

At the height of a dust storm, the air is so saturated with dust that visibility is limited to three to four meters. After such a storm, often where the shoots were green, the desert spreads. Sandstorms are not uncommon in the vast expanses of the Sahara, the greatest desert peace. There are vast desert areas where sandstorms also occur in Arabia, Iran, Central Asia, Australia, South America and other parts of the world. Sandy dust, raised high into the air, makes it difficult for aircraft to fly, covers the decks of ships, houses and fields, roads, airfields with a thin layer. Falling on the water of the ocean, the dust sinks into its depths and is deposited on the ocean floor.

dust storms not only raise huge masses of sand and dust into the troposphere - the most "restless" part of the atmosphere, where strong winds constantly blow at different heights (the upper limit of the troposphere in equatorial zone is located at altitudes of about 15–18 km, and in middle latitudes – 8–11 km). They move colossal masses of sand around the Earth, which can flow like water under the influence of the wind. Encountering small obstacles in its path, the sand forms majestic hills called dunes and dunes. They have a wide variety of shapes and heights. Dunes are known in the Sahara desert, the height of which reaches 200–300 m. These giant waves of sand actually move several hundred meters a year, slowly but steadily advancing on oases, filling up palm groves, wells, and settlements.

In Russia, the northern border of the distribution of dust storms passes through Saratov, Ufa, Orenburg and the foothills of Altai.

whirling storms are complex vortex formations caused by cyclonic activity and spreading over large areas.

stream storms These are local phenomena of small distribution. They are peculiar, sharply isolated and inferior in their significance to eddy storms. whirling storms subdivided into dusty, dustless, snowy and squall (or squalls). Dust storms are characterized by the fact that the air flow of such storms is saturated with dust and sand (usually at a height of up to several hundred meters, sometimes up to 2 km in large dust storms). In dustless storms, due to the absence of dust, the air remains clean. Depending on the path of its movement, the demon dust storms can turn into dusty (when the air flow moves, for example, over desert areas). In winter, vortex storms often turn into snow storms. In Russia, such storms are called blizzard, snowstorm, snowstorm.

The features of squall storms are rapid, almost sudden, formation, extremely short activity (several minutes), a quick end, and often a significant destructive force. For example, within 10 minutes the wind speed may increase from 3 m/s to 31 m/s.

stream storms divided into stock and jet. During katabatic storms, the air flow moves down the slope from top to bottom. Jet storms are characterized by the fact that the air flow moves horizontally or even up the slope. stock storms formed by the flow of air from the peaks and ridges of mountains down into the valley or to the seashore. Often in a given locality characteristic of them, they have their own local names (for example, Novorossiysk Bora, Balkhashskaya Bora, Sarma, Garmsil). jet storms characteristic of natural corridors, passages between chains of mountains connecting different valleys. They also often have their own local names (for example, Nord, Ulan, Santash, Ibe, Ursatievsky wind).

The transparency of the atmosphere largely depends on the percentage of aerosols in it (the concept of "aerosol" in this case includes dust, smoke, fog). An increase in the content of aerosols in the atmosphere reduces the amount coming to the Earth's surface solar energy. As a result, the Earth's surface may cool. And this will cause a decrease in the average planetary temperature and the possibility, ultimately, of the beginning of a new ice age.

The deterioration of the transparency of the atmosphere contributes to the interference with the movement of aviation, shipping and other modes of transport and is often the cause of major transport emergencies. Air pollution with dust has a harmful effect on living organisms and vegetable world, accelerates the destruction of metal structures, buildings, structures and has a number of other negative consequences.

Dust contains solid aerosols, which are formed during the weathering of the earth's rock, forest fires, volcanic eruptions and other natural phenomena; solid aerosols from industrial emissions and cosmic dust, as well as particles in the atmosphere formed during the crushing process during explosions.

By origin, dust is divided into space, marine, volcanic, ash and industrial. The constant amount of cosmic dust is less than 1% of the total dust content in the atmosphere. In the formation of dust marine origin the seas can only participate by depositing salts. In a noticeable form, this manifests itself occasionally and at a small distance from the coast. Dust of volcanic origin is one of the most significant air pollutants. fly ash It is formed due to the weathering of the earth's rock, as well as during dust storms.

industrial dust is one of the main constituents of air. Its content in the air is determined by the development of industry and transport and has a pronounced upward trend. Already now in many cities of the world it has been created danger position due to dusty atmosphere due to industrial emissions.

Kurumy

Kurumy Outwardly, they are placers of coarse clastic material in the form of stone mantles and streams on mountain slopes with a steepness less than the angle of repose of coarse clastic material (from 3 to 35–40°). There are a lot of morphological varieties of kurums, which is connected with the nature of their formation. Their common feature is the nature of the packing of coarse clastic material - a fairly uniform size of the clasts. In addition, in most cases, from the surface, the debris is either covered with moss or lichen, or simply has a black “tan crust”. This indicates that the surface layer of debris is not prone to movement in the form of rolling. Hence, apparently, their name is “kurums”, which from the ancient Turkic means either “sheep herd”, or a cluster of stones similar in appearance to a flock of sheep. There are many synonyms for this term in the literature: stone stream, stone river, stone sea, etc.

The most important feature of the kurums is that their coarse clastic cover experiences slow movements down the slope. Signs indicating the mobility of the kurums are: the swell-like nature of the frontal part with the steepness of the ledge close to or equal to the angle of repose of the coarse clastic material; the presence of swells oriented both along the dip and along the strike of the slope; the sintering nature of the kurum body as a whole.

The activity of kurums is evidenced by:

– discontinuity of lichen and moss covers;

– a large number of blocks oriented vertically and the presence of linear zones with long axes oriented along the slope dip;

– large openness of the section, the presence of buried sod and remains of trees in the section;

– deformity of trees located in the zone of contact with kurums;

- plumes of fine earth at the base of the slopes, carried out from the kurum cover by subsurface runoff, etc.

In Russia, kurums occupy very large areas in the Urals, in Eastern Siberia, in Transbaikalia, in Far East. Kurum formation is determined by climate, lithological features of rocks and the nature of the weathering crust, dissection of the relief and tectonic features of the territory.

The formation of kurums occurs in severe climatic conditions, the main of which is the amplitude of fluctuations in air temperatures, which contributes to the weathering of rocks. The second condition is the presence on the slopes of rocks that are resistant to disintegration, but
fissured, giving large pieces during weathering (lumps, crushed stone). The third condition is abundance precipitation, which form a powerful surface runoff that washes the coarse clastic cover.

The most active kurum formation occurs in the presence of permafrost. Their appearance is sometimes noted in conditions of deep seasonal freezing. The thickness of kurums depends on the depth of the seasonally thawed layer. On the Wrangel Islands, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, and in some other regions of the Arctic, kurums have a "film" character of a coarse clastic cover (30–40 cm). In the North-East of Russia and the north of the Central Siberian Plateau, their thickness increases to 1 m or more, tending to increase to the south to 2–2.5 m in South Yakutia and Transbaikalia. In the same geological structures, the age of kurums depends on their latitudinal position. So, in the Northern and Polar Urals, modern kurum formation occurs, and in Southern Urals most of Kurumov refers to the "dead", relic.

In continental regions, the most favorable conditions for kurum formation are found in areas with high humidity. AT temperate climate Intensive kurum formation occurs within the bald belt of mountains and the belt of forests. Each climatic zone has its own altitude ranges in which kurum formation is observed. AT Arctic zone Kurums are developed in the altitude range from 50–160 m on Franz Josef Land, to 400–450 m on Novaya Zemlya, and up to 700–1500 m in the north of the Central Siberian Plateau. In the Subarctic, the altitude range is 1000–1200 m in the Polar and Northern Urals, in the Khibiny. In the continental area temperate zone Kurums are found at an altitude of 400–500 m in the southern part of the Central Siberian Plateau, 1100–1200 m in the west and 1200–1300 m in the east of the Aldan Highlands, 1800–2000 m in southwestern Transbaikalia. In the continental sector of the subboreal zone, kurums are found at altitudes of 600–2000 m in Kuznetsk Alatau and 1600–3500 m in Tuva. As a result of studying the kurums of Northern Transbaikalia, it was found that only in this region there are about 20 of their morphogenetic varieties (Table 2.49). The kurums differ from each other in terms of the shape in plan, the structure of the kurum body in the section, and the structure of the coarse clastic cover, which is associated with various conditions the formation of kurums.

According to the sources of education, two large classes of kurums are distinguished. The first class includes tumuli, into which coarse clastic material enters from their bed due to its destruction by weathering, removal of fine earth, buckling of debris, and other processes. These are kurums with the so-called internal nutrition. The second class includes kurums, the clastic material of which comes from outside due to the action of gravitational processes (landslides, scree, etc.). Kurums of the second type are spatially localized in the lower parts or at the foot of actively developing slopes and are small in size.

Kurums with internal feeding are divided into two subgroups: those developing on loose deposits and on rocks. Kurums on slopes composed of loose deposits are formed as a result of cryogenic buckling of coarse clastic material and suffusion removal of fine earth from it. They are confined to moraines, deluvial-solifluction accumulations, sediments of ancient alluvial fans and other genetic varieties consisting of blocks, crushed stone with fine-grained aggregate. Often such kurums are laid along shallow erosional hollows and other superimposed exogenous forms.

Most widespread, especially in the goltsovy belt of mountains, have kurums with internal nutrition, developing on rocks various origins and composition that are resistant to weathering and give large pieces (lumps, crushed stone) during destruction. The structure of all types of kurums is significantly influenced by the geological and geomorphological conditions in which they are formed (Table 2.50). On a relatively homogeneous in composition and structure of the primary substrate and slopes with the same slope, the kurum-forming processes manifest themselves relatively evenly over the area. In this case, a single-type section appears along its strike on the kurum slope. The structure and cryogenic features of the kurum cover change mainly down the slope. If the root substrate is heterogeneous in composition and structure, then the formation of the cover occurs unevenly over its entire area as a result of the selective manifestation of exogenous processes. In this case, kurums are formed various shapes(linear, mesh, isometric), belonging to the group of selective weathering of rocks.

The most important feature of kurums, which predetermines their danger, is their structure in the section. It is the structure that determines their geodynamic and engineering-geological features, i.e., the danger of kurums when interacting with various engineering objects. The structure of kurums in sections is diverse. If we take into account the size of the debris, the nature of their processing and sorting in a vertical section, the presence of bald ice or fine earth, its relationship with the part of the section that is in a permafrost state, and other dangers, then there are no identically built kurums. However, when summarizing the details of the structure, 13 main types of sections were identified, which correspond to certain conditions of kurum formation and reflect the specifics of the processes occurring in one or another part of the coarse clastic material.

First group unites sections, in the structure of which there is a layer with bald ice. The part of the kurum body, which has such a structure, is named just that - a subfacies with bald ice. This subfacies is an indicator that the kurum is in the mature stage of its development, since the formation of the ice-ground layer occurs due to a decrease in the depth of seasonal thawing as a result of the destruction of rocks and an increase in their moisture content (ice content). The movement of the coarse clastic material of the subfacies is carried out due to thermogenic and cryogenic desertification, plastic deformations of the ice-ground base, as well as the sliding of fragments along it.

In general (non-aeronautical) meteorology, it is believed that the horizontal visibility during a dust storm (at a standard level of 2 m above the ground) is usually from 1 to 4 km (in some cases it can be reduced to several hundred and even several tens of meters).

Geography

The main area of ​​dust storms is temperate and tropical deserts and semi-deserts. climatic zones both hemispheres of the earth.

Term dust storm usually used when a storm occurs over clay and loamy soil. When storms occur in sand deserts (especially in the Sahara, as well as in the Karakum, Kyzylkum, etc.), when, in addition to small particles that reduce visibility, the wind also carries millions of tons of larger sand particles above the surface, the term is used sandstorm.

A high frequency of dust storms is noted in the Aral Sea and Balkhash regions (south of Kazakhstan), on the coasts of the Caspian Sea, in the West Kazakhstan region, in Karakalpakstan and Turkmenistan. In Russia, dust storms are most commonly observed in Astrakhan Oblast, eastern Volgograd Oblast, Kalmykia, Tyva, Altai Krai, and Transbaikal Krai.

During long periods of dry weather, dust storms can develop (not annually) in the steppe and forest-steppe zones: in Russia - in the Chita region, Buryatia, Tuva, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg regions, Bashkiria, Samara, Saratov, Voronezh, Rostov regions, Krasnodar, Stavropol Territory and Kherson regions, in the Crimea; on the territory of Ukraine - in Luhansk, Donetsk, Nikolaev, Odessa; in northern, central and eastern Kazakhstan.

Causes

With an increase in the strength of the wind flow passing over loose particles, the latter begin to vibrate and then “jump”. When repeatedly hitting the ground, these particles create fine dust that rises as a suspension.

A recent study suggests that the initial saltation of sand grains by friction induces an electrostatic field. The bouncing particles acquire a negative charge, which releases even more particles. Such a process captures twice as many particles as previous theories predict.

Particles are released mainly due to the dryness of the soil and increased wind. Gust fronts can occur due to the cooling of the air in the zone of a thunderstorm with rain or a dry cold front. After the passage of a dry cold front, the convective instability of the troposphere can contribute to the development of a dust storm. In desert regions, dust and sandstorms are most often caused by thunderstorm downdrafts and the associated increase in wind speed. The vertical dimensions of the storm are determined by the stability of the atmosphere and the weight of the particles. In some cases, dust and sandstorms can be limited to a relatively thin layer due to the effect of temperature inversion.

Ways to fight

To prevent and reduce the effects of dust storms, it is necessary to analyze the features of the terrain - relief, microclimate, direction of the prevailing winds, and take measures to reduce the wind speed near the surface and increase the adhesion of soil particles. To reduce wind speed, systems of forest belts and wind protection wings are being created. Left stubble, non-moldboard plowing, soil-protective crop rotations with crops of perennial grasses, strip alternation of perennial grasses and crops of annual crops give a significant effect to increase the adhesion of soil particles.

Environmental consequences

Sandstorms can move entire dunes and carry huge amounts of dust, so that the front of the storm can appear as a dense wall of dust up to 1 mile high. Dust and sand storms coming from the Sahara desert are also known as samum, khamsin (in Egypt and Israel) and habub (in Sudan).

A large number of dust storms originate in the Sahara, especially in the Bodele depression and in the area of ​​convergence of the borders of Mauritania, Mali and Algeria. Over the past half century (since the 1950s), Saharan dust storms have increased by about 10 times, causing thinning of the topsoil in Niger, Chad, northern Nigeria and Burkina Faso. In the 1960s, only two dust storms occurred in Mauritania, currently there are 80 storms per year.

Dust from the Sahara is transported through Atlantic Ocean to the west. The strong daytime heating of the desert creates an unstable layer in the lower part of the troposphere, in which dust particles spread. As the air mass transfers (advection) to the west over the Sahara, it continues to heat up, and then, having entered the ocean, passes over a colder and wetter atmospheric layer. This temperature inversion keeps the layers from mixing and allows the dusty layer of air to cross the ocean. The volume of dust blown out of the Sahara towards the Atlantic Ocean in June 2007 is five times greater than a year earlier, which may cool the waters of the Atlantic and slightly reduce the activity of hurricanes.

Economic consequences

The main damage caused by dust storms is the destruction of the fertile soil layer, which reduces its agricultural productivity. In addition, the abrasive effect damages young plants. Other possible negative impacts include: reduced visibility affecting air and road transport; a decrease in the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface; the effect of a thermal "spread"; adverse effects on the respiratory system of living organisms.

Dust can also be of benefit in places of deposition - the selva of Central and South America receives the most mineral fertilizers from the Sahara, the lack of iron in the ocean is replenished, the dust in Hawaii helps banana crops grow. In northern China and the western United States, ancient storm sediment soils, called loess, are very fertile, but are also the source of modern dust storms when soil-binding vegetation is disrupted.

extraterrestrial dust storms

The strong difference in temperature between the ice sheet and warm air at the edge of the south polar cap of Mars leads to strong winds that raise huge clouds of red-brown dust. Experts believe that dust on Mars can play the same role as clouds on Earth - it absorbs sunlight and heats the atmosphere due to this.

Known dust and sandstorms

• According to Herodotus, in 525 BC. e. during a sandstorm in the Sahara, the fifty-thousandth army of the Persian king Cambyses perished.
• In April 1928, in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of Ukraine, the wind lifted more than 15 million tons of black soil from an area of ​​1 million km². Chernozem dust was transported to the west and settled on an area of ​​6 million km² in the Carpathian region, in Romania and in Poland. The height of dust clouds reached 750 m, the thickness of the black earth layer in the affected regions of Ukraine decreased by 10-15 cm.
• A series of dust storms across the United States and Canada during the Dust Bowl Period (1930-1936) forced hundreds of thousands of farmers to move.
• On the afternoon of February 8, 1983, a severe dust storm that appeared in the north of the Australian state of Victoria covered the city of Melbourne.
• During the multi-year droughts of 1954-56, 1976-78 and 1987-91, intense dust storms arose in North America.
• A strong dust storm on February 24, 2007, which appeared in western Texas near the city of Amarillo, covered the entire northern part state. Strong winds caused numerous damage to fences, roofs and even some buildings. The international airport of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolis was also badly damaged, people with breathing problems went to the hospital.
• In June 2007, a large dust storm occurred in Karachi and in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan that followed heavy rains led to the death of almost 200 people.
• On May 26, 2008, a sandstorm in Mongolia resulted in the death of 46 people.
• On September 23, 2009, a dust storm in Sydney disrupted traffic and forced hundreds of people to stay at home. Over 200 people sought medical attention due to breathing problems.
• On July 5, 2011, a huge sandstorm covered the city of Phoenix, the capital of Arizona in the United States. The elements led to breaks in power lines, a fire in the city center, and air traffic was paralyzed.
• In early September 2015, an unprecedented sandstorm (“sharav”) swept across much of the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia. Several people died. In Mecca, a crane collapsed on the Al-Haram mosque as a result of bad weather, killing more than 100 people. In Syria, ISIS militants were able to expand their territory due to a storm.
• On the evening of May 9, 2016, a huge dust storm hit the city of Irkutsk, which intensified due to the smoke of burning nearby forests that descended over the city.

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Notes

Links

• Dust storm- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
• - Encyclopedia extreme situations
• (English)
• (English)
• Instructions for hydrometeorological stations and posts. Issue 3, part 1. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1985.

Seasons tropical seasons Weather conditions Precipitation Forecast and weather diary

An excerpt characterizing the Dust Storm

“Teach me what to do, how to improve myself forever, forever, how to deal with my life…” she thought.
The deacon went out to the pulpit, straightened it out wide thumb, long hair from under the surplice and, placing a cross on his chest, loudly and solemnly began to read the words of the prayer:
“Let us pray to the Lord for peace.”
“In peace, all together, without distinction of class, without enmity, and united by brotherly love, we will pray,” thought Natasha.
- About the peace from above and about the salvation of our souls!
“About the world of angels and souls of all incorporeal beings that live above us,” Natasha prayed.
When they prayed for the army, she remembered her brother and Denisov. When they prayed for sailors and travelers, she remembered Prince Andrei and prayed for him, and prayed that God would forgive her the evil that she had done to him. When they prayed for those who love us, she prayed for her family, for her father, mother, Sonya, for the first time now realizing all her guilt before them and feeling all the strength of her love for them. When we prayed for those who hate us, she invented enemies and haters for herself in order to pray for them. She counted creditors and all those who dealt with her father as enemies, and every time she thought of enemies and haters, she remembered Anatole, who had done her so much evil, and although he was not a hater, she joyfully prayed for him as for enemy. Only during prayer did she feel able to clearly and calmly remember both Prince Andrei and Anatole, as people for whom her feelings were destroyed in comparison with her feeling of fear and reverence for God. When they prayed for the royal family and for the Synod, she bowed especially low and crossed herself, telling herself that if she does not understand, she cannot doubt and still loves the ruling Synod and prays for it.
Having finished the litany, the deacon crossed the orarion around his chest and said:
“Let us commit ourselves and our lives to Christ our God.”
“We will betray ourselves to God,” Natasha repeated in her soul. My God, I commit myself to your will, she thought. - I don’t want anything, I don’t want; teach me what to do, where to use my will! Yes, take me, take me! - Natasha said with touching impatience in her soul, without crossing herself, lowering her thin hands and as if expecting that an invisible force would take her and save her from herself, from her regrets, desires, reproaches, hopes and vices.
The Countess several times during the service looked back at the tender, with shining eyes, face of her daughter and prayed to God that he would help her.
Unexpectedly, in the middle and not in the order of the service, which Natasha knew well, the deacon brought out a stool, the same one on which kneeling prayers were read on Trinity Day, and placed it in front of the royal doors. The priest came out in his purple velvet skufi, straightened his hair, and with an effort knelt down. They all did the same and looked at each other in bewilderment. It was a prayer just received from the Synod, a prayer for the salvation of Russia from enemy invasion.
“Lord, God of strength, God of our salvation,” the priest began in that clear, unpompous and meek voice, which only spiritual Slavic readers read and which has such an irresistible effect on Russian heart. - Lord God of strength, God of our salvation! Look now in mercy and generosity on your humble people, and hear philanthropicly, and have mercy, and have mercy on us. Behold the enemy, confuse your land and want to lay the whole world empty, rise up on us; these people of iniquity have gathered, to destroy your property, destroy your honest Jerusalem, your beloved Russia: defile your temples, dig up altars and desecrate our shrine. How long, Lord, how long will sinners boast? How long do you use to have legal power?
Lord Lord! Hear us praying to you: strengthen with your strength the most pious, most autocratic great sovereign of our Emperor Alexander Pavlovich; remember his righteousness and meekness, reward him according to his goodness, which is what keeps us, your beloved Israel. Bless his advice, undertakings and deeds; establish with your almighty right hand his kingdom and give him victory over the enemy, as Moses against Amalek, Gideon against Midian and David against Goliath. Save his army; put the onion of copper to the muscles, in your name enlisted, and gird them with strength for battle. Take up arms and a shield, and rise up to help us, let them be ashamed and put to shame who think evil to us, let them be before the faithful army, like dust before the face of the wind, and let your strong angel insult and drive them; Let a net come to them, but they will not know, and catch them, and hide them, and embrace them; let them fall under the feet of your servants, and let them be trampled under our howl. God! it will not fail you to save in many and in small; thou art a god, let no man prevail against thee.
God our fathers! Remember your bounty and mercy, even from the ages: do not reject us from your face, disdain our unworthiness below, but have mercy on us according to your great mercy and, according to the multitude of your bounties, despise our iniquities and sins. Create a pure heart in us, and renew a right spirit in our womb; Strengthen us all with faith in you, affirm with hope, inspire with true love for each other, arm with unanimity for the righteous defense of obsession, even if you gave us and our father, so that the rod of the wicked does not ascend to the lot of the sanctified.
Lord our God, we believe in him and trust in him, do not put us to shame from the hope of your mercy and create a sign for good, as if they see those who hate us and Orthodox faith ours, and they will be put to shame and perish; and may all countries be taken away, for the name of you is the Lord, and we are your people. Show us, O Lord, now give us your mercy and your salvation; rejoice in the hearts of your servants about your mercy; strike our enemies, and crush them under the feet of your faithful soon. You are the intercession, help and victory of those who hope in you, and we send glory to you, father and son and holy spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen".
In the state of spiritual openness in which Natasha was, this prayer had a strong effect on her. She listened to every word about the victory of Moses against Amalek, and Gideon against Midian, and David against Goliath, and about the destruction of your Jerusalem, and asked God with that tenderness and softness with which her heart was overflowing; but she did not understand well what she was asking God for in that prayer. She wholeheartedly participated in the petition for a right spirit, for the strengthening of the heart with faith, hope, and for inspiring them with love. But she could not pray to trample her enemies under her feet, when a few minutes before that she only wished to have more of them, to love them, to pray for them. But she, too, could not doubt the correctness of the kneeling prayer read. She felt in her soul a reverent and trembling horror before the punishment that befell people for their sins, and especially for her sins, and asked God to forgive them all and her and give them all and her peace and happiness in life. . And it seemed to her that God heard her prayer.

From the day Pierre, leaving the Rostovs and remembering Natasha's grateful look, looked at the comet standing in the sky, and felt that something new had opened up for him, the question of the futility and madness of everything earthly, which had always tormented him, ceased to present itself to him. This terrible question: why? for what? - which had previously presented itself to him in the middle of every lesson, was now replaced for him not by another question and not by an answer to the former question, but by presenting it. Whether he heard, and whether he himself carried on insignificant conversations, whether he read, or found out about the meanness and senselessness of human beings, he was not horrified, as before; he did not ask himself why people were busy when everything was so brief and unknown, but he remembered her in the form in which he saw her for the last time, and all his doubts disappeared, not because she answered the questions that presented themselves to him , but because the idea of ​​her instantly transferred him to another, bright area of ​​mental activity, in which there could be no right or wrong, to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bbeauty and love, for which it was worth living. Whatever the abomination of life seemed to him, he said to himself:
“Well, even if such and such robbed the state and the king, and the state and the king pay him honors; and yesterday she smiled at me and asked me to come, and I love her, and no one will ever know this, ”he thought.
Pierre still went to society, drank just as much and led the same idle and absent-minded life, because, in addition to those hours that he spent with the Rostovs, he had to spend the rest of the time, and the habits and acquaintances he made in Moscow , irresistibly attracted him to the life that captured him. But in recent times When more and more disturbing rumors came from the theater of war, and when Natasha's health began to improve and she ceased to arouse in him the former feeling of thrifty pity, he began to be seized by more and more incomprehensible restlessness. He felt that the situation he was in could not last long, that a catastrophe was coming that was to change his whole life, and he looked impatiently for signs of this approaching catastrophe in everything. One of the Masonic brothers revealed to Pierre the following prophecy, derived from the Apocalypse of John the Evangelist, regarding Napoleon.
In the Apocalypse, chapter thirteen, verse eighteen, it is said: “Here is wisdom; whoever has a mind, let him honor the number of the beast: for the number of man is and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
And the same chapter in verse five: “And the mouth was given to him saying great and blasphemous; and a region was given to him to create four months - ten two months.
French letters, like the Hebrew number in the image, according to which the first ten letters are units, and the other tens, have the following meaning:
a b c d e f g h i k.. l..m..n..o..p..q..r..s..t.. u…v w.. x.. y.. z
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Having written the words L "empereur Napoleon [Emperor Napoleon] in this alphabet, it turns out that the sum of these numbers is 666 and that therefore Napoleon is the beast predicted in the Apocalypse. In addition, writing the words quarante deux in the same alphabet [ forty-two], that is, the limit that was set for the beast to say great and blasphemous, the sum of these numbers, depicting quarante deux, is again equal to 666 ti, from which it follows that the limit of Napoleon's power came in 1812, in which the French emperor passed 42 This prediction greatly struck Pierre, and he often asked himself the question of what exactly would put the limit on the power of the beast, that is, Napoleon, and, on the basis of the same images of words in numbers and calculations, tried to find an answer to the question that occupied him. Pierre wrote in answer to this question: L "empereur Alexandre? La nation Russe? [Emperor Alexander? Russian people?] He counted the letters, but the sum of the numbers came out much more or less than 666 ti. Once, doing these calculations, he wrote his name - Comte Pierre Besouhoff; The sum of the numbers didn't go far either. He, having changed the spelling, putting z instead of s, added de, added article le, and still did not get the desired result. Then it occurred to him that if the answer to the question he was looking for consisted in his name, then his nationality would certainly be named in the answer. He wrote Le Russe Besuhoff and, counting the numbers, got 671. Only 5 was extra; 5 means “e”, the very “e” that was dropped in the article before the word L "empereur. Having discarded the "e" in the same way, although incorrectly, Pierre received the desired answer; L "Russe Besuhof, equal to 666 ti. The discovery thrilled him. How, by what connection he was connected with that great event which was foretold in the Apocalypse, he did not know; but he did not for a moment doubt this connection. His love for Rostova, the Antichrist, the invasion of Napoleon, the comet, 666, l "empereur Napoleon and l" Russe Besuhof - all this together should have matured, erupted and taken him out of that enchanted, insignificant world of Moscow habits in which he felt himself captive, and lead him to a great feat and great happiness.
On the eve of the Sunday on which the prayer was read, Pierre promised the Rostovs to bring them from Count Rostopchin, with whom he was well acquainted, both an appeal to Russia and the latest news from the army. In the morning, having called on Count Rostopchin, Pierre found a courier from the army who had just arrived at his place.
The courier was one of the Moscow ballroom dancers familiar to Pierre.
"For God's sake, can't you relieve me?" - said the courier, - I have a bag full of letters to my parents.
Among these letters was a letter from Nikolai Rostov to his father. Pierre took this letter. In addition, Count Rostopchin gave Pierre the sovereign's appeal to Moscow, which had just been printed, last orders in the army and his latest poster. After reviewing the orders for the army, Pierre found in one of them, between the news of the wounded, killed and awarded, the name of Nikolai Rostov, awarded George 4th degree for his bravery in the Ostrovnensky case, and in the same order the appointment of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky as commander of the Jaeger regiment. Although he did not want to remind the Rostovs of Bolkonsky, Pierre could not refrain from wishing to please them with the news of his son's award and, leaving the appeal, poster and other orders with him, in order to bring them to dinner himself, sent a printed order and a letter to Rostov.
A conversation with Count Rostopchin, his tone of concern and haste, a meeting with a courier who carelessly talked about how bad things were going in the army, rumors about spies found in Moscow, about a paper circulating around Moscow, which says that Napoleon promises to to be in both Russian capitals, the conversation about the arrival of the sovereign expected tomorrow - all this with new force aroused in Pierre that feeling of excitement and expectation that had not left him since the appearance of the comet, and especially since the beginning of the war.
Pierre had long had the idea to enter military service, and he would have fulfilled it, if it had not interfered with him, firstly, his belonging to that Masonic society with which he was bound by an oath and which preached eternal peace and the abolition of war, and, secondly, what he, looking at a large number of Muscovites who donned uniforms and preached patriotism, for some reason it was ashamed to take such a step. The main reason why he did not fulfill his intention to enter the military service was the vague idea that he was l "Russe Besuhof, having the meaning of the animal number 666, that his participation in the great cause of the position of the limit of power to the beast, speaking great and blasphemy, it is predetermined from eternity and that therefore he should not undertake anything and wait for what should be done.

At the Rostovs', as always on Sundays, some close acquaintances dined.
Pierre arrived earlier to find them alone.
Pierre has grown so fat this year that he would have been ugly if he had not been so large in stature, large in limbs and had not been so strong that, obviously, he easily wore his thickness.
He, puffing and muttering something to himself, entered the stairs. The coachman no longer asked him whether to wait. He knew that when the count was at the Rostovs, it would be before twelve o'clock. The Rostovs' lackeys joyfully rushed to take off his cloak and take his stick and hat. Pierre, out of club habit, left both his stick and his hat in the hall.

Huge, swirling reddish clouds of sand and dust, raised from the surface of the earth by dry, hot and fast air currents, carry death. So, in 1805, a dust storm completely covered a caravan of two thousand people and the same number of camels with sand. The same story befell the Sahara in 525 BC. the legendary army of the Persian ruler Cambyses II: a terrible sandstorm stopped the military expedition halfway, killing about fifty thousand soldiers.

A sure sign that a sandstorm is approaching is a sudden silence when the wind stops blowing, and with it all sounds and rustles disappear. Instead, stuffiness intensifies, and along with it, anxiety emerges at a subconscious level. And after a while, a fast-growing black-purple cloud appears on the horizon. The wind appears again and, picking up speed, raises dust and sand.

A sandstorm, or as it is also called, a dust storm is a atmospheric phenomenon, when strong wind transports large quantities of grains of sand, soil particles or dust over long distances. The height of such a cloud can exceed a kilometer, while the visibility inside it decreases to several tens of meters.

As these particles settle, the ground becomes reddish, yellowish or greyish (depending on the composition of the airborne particles). Despite the fact that dust storms appear mainly in summer, in the absence of precipitation and rapid drying of the soil, they also occur in winter.

Dust storms form mainly in desert or semi-desert regions (the Sahara desert is especially famous for them), but sometimes due to drought it can also occur in the forest-steppe and forest regions of the planet. So, in April 2015, Khmelnytsky, a city located in western Ukraine, was hit by a sandstorm. The hurricane lasted about five minutes, visibility did not exceed ten meters, and the wind was so strong that it almost carried people and vehicles off the bridges.

How a storm is formed

In order for a dust storm to arise, a dry ground surface and a wind speed exceeding 10 m / s are required (for example, in the Sahara, its rates often reach 50 m / s). Dust storms appear due to the turbulence (heterogeneity) of air flows, which, when moving over an uneven surface, colliding with obstacles, form air turbulences. The faster the wind moves, the more dangerous eddies it creates.

After the movement of air masses over loose particles of soil increases, the adhesion between which is weakened due to the dryness of the soil (which is why storms of this type appear mainly in deserts), the grains of sand begin to vibrate first, then jump, and as a result of repeated impacts turn into fine dust.

Air swirls easily lift sand or dust particles from the ground, while the temperature of the lower layers of air masses rises greatly: over the steppes - up to 1.5 km, over deserts - up to 2.5 km. After that, air is mixed with dust particles, which tend to be distributed over the entire area of ​​the heated air.

Whereas smaller particles earth's surface fly extremely high, large ones rise to a lower distance and fall quickly (if the wind is extremely strong, dust can be transported thousands of kilometers). The strength of the wind during sandstorms is such that he is quite capable of moving dunes from their place, and the sand he raises will be like a huge cloud one and a half kilometers high.

In order for a dust storm to form, the ground must be dry: in the event of a prolonged drought under the influence of strong winds, even particles can rise into the air upper layers chernozem soil (in this case, a "black storm" is formed), and move long distances.

So, at the end of the twenties of the last century in the forest-steppe and steppe forests of Ukraine, a dust storm suddenly appeared, lifted up more than 15 million tons of black soil (the height of the cloud was 750 m) and moved them thousands of kilometers to the side. Some of the dust settled in the Carpathians, Poland and Romania, as a result of which the fertile soil layer in the affected regions (about 1 million km2) decreased by 10-15 cm.

How long does the event last

Sandstorms typically last between thirty minutes and four hours. At the same time, short-term dust storms are characterized by a slight deterioration in visibility: the terrain is visible up to four, and sometimes up to 10 kilometers.

Among short-term dust storms, there are also such dust storms during which visibility is limited to two tens of meters.

A dust storm always appears almost unexpectedly: in good weather, a heavy wind will rise, as a result of which the speed of air flows increases, picking up and lifting dust particles into the air.

True, poor visibility does not last long, even though the wind speed is increasing at this time. You can tell that a dust storm is approaching by the gray foggy veil that appears under cumulonimbus clouds when they are close to the horizon.

There are also long sandstorms:

• Some dust storms are characterized by only a partial deterioration in visibility, up to four kilometers (however, these dust storms are the longest in time, since they can last several days).
• For others, visibility is limited to a few meters at the initial stage of development, after which it clears up to one kilometer. But these sandstorms last no more than four hours.

Storms of the Sahara

Many sandstorms originate in the world's largest desert, the Sahara, where Mauritania, Mali and Algeria border each other. Over the past half century, the number of sandstorms in the Sahara has increased tenfold (about eighty storms sweep through Mauritania alone in a year).

The uplifted sand of the Sahara is so abundant that a huge amount of sand particles are transported across the Atlantic Ocean. This situation is possible due to the fact that when dust and sand move over the desert, they continue to heat up along with the air, after which, once above the ocean, they pass under a colder and more humid air stream. The difference in temperature between the layers of air causes them to not mix with each other, allowing dusty warm air to cross the ocean.

Although sandstorms cause many negative consequences(destroy the fertile soil layer, adversely affect respiratory system living organisms), the dust raised into the air also brings benefits. For example, dust storms in the Sahara supply humid equatorial forests Central and South America a huge amount of mineral fertilizers, and the ocean receives the missing part of the iron. At the same time, the dust raised in Hawaii makes it possible for banana trees to grow.

What to do if caught in a storm

Having noticed the first signs of an approaching storm, you need to stop immediately: it is useless to continue moving and an extra waste of energy, especially since a sandstorm rarely lasts more than four hours. Even if the wind does not subside for about two or three days, it is better to wait in one place and not go anywhere. Therefore, all supplies of water and food must be kept near you (especially water, otherwise complete dehydration of the body is ensured, and this always leads to death).

Stopping, you need to immediately start looking for shelter. It could be large stone, a boulder, a tree near which you need to lie down on the leeward side and completely, with your head, wrap yourself in matter. If it is possible to hide in a car, it must be placed in such a way that the wind does not blow through the door.

In the worst case, if there is no shelter nearby, you need to lie on the ground and cover your head with clothes (the Bedouins in such cases dig something like a trench). It should be borne in mind that when a sandstorm passes, the air temperature at that moment will be about fifty degrees, which can lead to loss of consciousness. Breathe while tons of sand are sweeping over your head, you only need to use a handkerchief, otherwise the smallest particles will enter the respiratory tract.

A dust (sand) storm is an atmospheric phenomenon when dust (sand) rises into the air and at the same time dust settles on large area. Depending on the color of the soil in a given region, distant objects take on a grayish, yellowish, or reddish hue. It usually occurs when the soil surface is dry and the wind speed is 10 m/s or more.

Often occurs in the warm season in desert and semi-desert regions. In addition to the “proper” dust storm, in some cases, dust from deserts and semi-deserts can be retained in the atmosphere for a long time and reach almost anywhere in the world in the form of a dust haze.

Khartoum, Sudan, 2007

Less often, dust storms occur in the steppe regions, very rarely - in the forest-steppe and even forest regions (in the last two zones, a dust storm occurs more often in summer during severe drought). In the steppe and (rarely) forest-steppe regions, dust storms usually occur in early spring, after a snowy winter and a dry autumn, but sometimes even in winter, in combination with snowstorms.

Khartoum, Sudan, 2007

The term dust storm is commonly used when a storm occurs over clay and loamy soil. When storms occur in sandy deserts (especially in the Sahara, as well as in the Karakum, Kyzylkum, etc.), when, in addition to small particles that reduce visibility, the wind also carries millions of tons of larger sand particles above the surface, the term sandstorm is used.

Al Assad, Iraq, 2005.

Al Assad, Iraq, 2007

Australia, 2010

Sandstorms can move entire dunes and carry huge amounts of dust, so that the front of the storm can appear as a dense wall of dust up to 1 mile high. Dust and sand storms coming from the Sahara desert are also known as samum, khamsin (in Egypt and Israel) and habub (in Sudan).

Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2011

Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2011

Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2011

Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2011

Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2011

Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2012

Sand (dust) storm is the transport of vast quantities of soil particles, such as sand and dust, in the atmosphere. At the same time, there is a significant deterioration in line of sight (usually, at the level of 2 meters from the ground, it is 1 km, in rare cases it can change to several hundred and even tens of meters). From the side, the storm looks like a dense wall with a height of several hundred meters.

Sandstorms occur with strong air currents, the speed of which is more than 10 m / s, it depends on the type and moisture content of the soil. In desert and semi-desert areas, this atmospheric phenomenon is observed especially often.

To suppress a sandstorm, a variety of means are used that create physical resistance that prevents its further spread. Forests serve as a natural barrier of this kind; this is perhaps the most effective and cheapest means. Water and snow retention facilities are also used.

In addition to the negative effects of sand and dust storms, such as:

• Impact on the respiratory system of animals.
• Significant deterioration in line-of-sight affecting aircraft and vehicles
• Destruction or temporary deterioration of fertile soil layers.
• damage to young plants.
• And so on…

they can also be useful:

• Normalization of the climate of high-moisture tropical forests.
• Compensation for the lack of iron in the ocean.
• Dust promotes the growth of banana crops.
• And so on…

Interesting information about extraterrestrial dust storms, namely on Mars from Wikipedia:

The strong temperature difference between the ice sheet and the warm air at the edge of Mars' south polar cap creates strong winds that kick up huge clouds of red-brown dust. Experts believe that dust on Mars can play the same function as clouds on Earth - it absorbs sunlight and heats the atmosphere due to this.

Video recordings of sandstorms

Amazing video footage of a sandstorm driving directly into its very epicenter.

Shooting a sandstorm at some military base. A mixture of air and sand covers the entire area until it is completely hidden from sunlight.

Another video recording, but from the window of a high-rise building.

And finally, the brightest and amazing pictures dust and sand storms.

The strongest sandstorm on Mars.

Satellite photos of sandstorms in Australia:

Photos of sandstorms in Australia, but from the ground: