How does a breeze become a gale?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 November 2020
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every year, Western Afghanistan is hit with a fierce 120-day wind, and listener Hamid wants to know what causes this phenomenon? He’s from the city of Herat, where what starts as a gentle breeze in the morning can pick up to become a dangerous gale just a few hours later, devastating buildings and causing power outages.
The BBC’s Abdullah Elham in Kabul tells us the country has plenty of other ‘friendly’ wind but this one is considered ‘fierce’. CrowdScience talks to Professor Amir Aghakouchak to discover more about the phenomenon, and learns about the pollution problems Herat’s summer storm causes in neighbouring Iran. But it’s not all bad news. Professor Lorraine Remer explains how NASA used satellites to map how wind transport Saharan sand almost half way round the world, fertilising the Amazon rainforest.
Presented by Marnie Chesterton and produced by Marijke Peters for the BBC World Service
[Photo: Tree in wind in desert. Credit: Getty Images]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.0 | This is the sound of climate change. |
| 0:39.0 | Find out what it all means at the end of this podcast. |
| 0:49.0 | Hi Craig Science, I'm Hamid from Afghanistan. My question is, where does the wind come from? |
| 0:52.0 | And why isn't in the same everywhere? |
| 0:55.0 | Why it sometimes a gentle breeze and sometimes I feel cycling? |
| 1:00.0 | Hello and welcome to crowd science, I'm Marnie Chesterton and this week, thanks to listener Hamid's question, I'll be investigating where wind comes from. |
| 1:09.0 | But he's not talking about just any wind. |
| 1:12.0 | This is one that once a year whips through the city of |
| 1:15.8 | Herat in the west of his country for a very particular period of time. |
| 1:19.9 | It starts in May and ends at the end of August. |
| 1:25.0 | It's called, a official name is the 120 days of wind. |
| 1:30.0 | That sounds like something mythical or romantic. |
| 1:34.4 | What's the reality of 120 days of wind? |
| 1:37.4 | Well, if you come to Iraq in this period, |
| 1:40.0 | you will see the wind is constantly blowing. |
... |
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