For the first time in many years, the Sahara Desert has witnessed significant flooding, transforming its typically arid landscape. Striking images reveal large lakes formed amid the iconic sand dunes, highlighting the unusual weather event that has affected one of the driest regions on Earth.
While the Sahara does receive some rainfall, it typically amounts to just a few inches annually and is rare during the late summer months. However, over a two-day period in September, intense rainfall occurred in southeastern Morocco, driven by a low-pressure system moving across northwestern parts of the desert. Preliminary data from NASA indicates that certain areas received nearly 8 inches of rain.
Errachidia, a city in southeastern Morocco, recorded almost 3 inches of rain in just two days—more than four times the average rainfall for the entire month of September, which equates to over half a year’s worth for that region. Houssine Youabeb from Morocco’s meteorological agency noted, “It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short space of time.”
As the rain flowed across the desert, it created a striking new watery landscape, particularly in the town of Merzouga, where the deluge carved new lakes into the sand dunes. The reflections of palm trees now shimmer on the surface of these newly formed lagoons.
The rain also filled normally dry lakes, including one in Iriqui National Park, Morocco's largest national park. NASA's satellite images have shown vast areas of the northwest Sahara transformed into green landscapes due to the storms pushing further north than usual, a phenomenon some research links to human-induced climate change.
Despite the dramatic transformation, the heavy rainfall also caused deadly flooding in some towns and villages, resulting in more than a dozen fatalities last month. The Sahara, spanning approximately 3.6 million square miles, is the largest non-polar desert in the world. Recent satellite images reveal extensive areas carpeted in greenery, suggesting that more extreme rainfall events could become more common in the future, as climate change continues to disrupt the water cycle.
撒哈拉沙漠幾十年來首次洪水泛濫，這裡的情況如下
最近的影像顯示，撒哈拉沙漠在世界上最乾燥的地方之一出現了大湖，這是幾十年來首次發生洪水。雖然撒哈拉沙漠每年會下雨，但通常只有幾寸，且很少在夏季末出現。然而，在九月的兩天內，摩洛哥東南部的部分地區出現了強降雨，這是由於一個低壓系統穿過西北撒哈拉。
初步的NASA衛星數據顯示，該地區某些地方降雨量達到近8英寸。摩洛哥東南部的沙漠城市埃拉赫迪亞在上個月錄得近3英寸的降雨量，這是九月份正常降雨量的四倍多，並且相當於該地區半年的降雨量。
摩洛哥氣象局的侯西恩·尤阿比卜告訴美聯社：“在這麼短的時間內，已有30至50年沒有這麼多降雨了。”隨著雨水在沙漠地形上流動，創造出了一個新的水域景觀，棕櫚樹和灌木叢之間出現了湖泊。
在德爾茲加鎮，最壯觀的影像顯示，稀有的降雨在沙丘中雕刻出新的湖泊。2024年10月2日的影像顯示，湖泊的倒影在新形成的潟湖上閃爍，四周被陡峭的沙丘環繞。
這場降雨還填滿了通常乾涸的湖泊，例如摩洛哥最大的國家公園——伊里基國家公園中的一個湖泊。NASA的衛星圖像使用假色彩來更好地突出洪水，顯示出西北撒哈拉大面積的新湖泊。
儘管大部分降雨落在稀疏人口的偏遠地區，但也有部分降雨影響了摩洛哥的城鎮和村莊，造成了上個月的致命洪水，死亡人數超過十人。
撒哈拉沙漠是世界上最大的非極地沙漠，面積達到360萬平方英里。九月份的衛星影像顯示，隨著風暴比平常更北推進，大片沙漠被綠色覆蓋。一些研究將這一現象與人為造成的氣候變化聯繫起來。
根據近期研究，隨著化石燃料污染繼續加劇全球變暖，撒哈拉未來可能會出現更極端的降雨事件。
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