Stellar Weather by Alieshaw Nelson

Alieshaw Nelson

Professor Christopher Foster

ATMO 1010

September 8, 2019

Stellar Weather

Interstellar is a science fiction movie that came out in 2014 and was directed and produced by Christopher Nolan starringMatthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. This movie takes place mostly in outer space as the crew of the Endurance searches for a new habitable planet for humanity to colonize. In the beginning of the film we get a good look at what the weather is doing on Earth.

In Interstellar, dust storms are the result of ‘the blight’ which caused all crops except corn to wither and die. The wind picked up the loose dirt and created impressive dust storms to run rampant across towns and countryside. These dust storms are based on what is generally referred to as ‘The Dust Bowl’. The Dust Bowl terrorized the midwestern United States in the 1930’s and was a significant factor that contributed to The Great Depression.

Weather patterns generally have two categories: synoptic or large-scale storms, and mesoscale or smaller pattern storms. Dust or sandstorms usually occur when strong winds lift large amounts of dry and barren sand or soil from the ground and lift them into the atmosphere. Since they are lifting up dry soil, they are most common in semi-arid regions like North Africa, The Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, and China. Dust storm can also be found in Australia, America, and South Africa but compared to their counterparts they are minor. Every year, over a hundred million tons of dust gets picked up from Africa, blow across the Atlantic, and get deposited in the Amazon River Basin. This dust replenishes the nutrients in the rainforest. This is a great example of a synoptic system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=ygulQJoIe2Y.

According to simulated models dust emissions can vary between one and two gigatons every year. The dust storms in Interstellar are based on mesoscale storm because they cover smaller distances, usually anywhere between 50-100 miles.

Caused by thunderstorms, or strong pressure gradients, dust storms increase wind speed over a wide area. Dust picked up from the ground make up 40% of the aerosols in the troposphere. Once the particles are picked up, they get raised higher and higher in the troposphere by the turbulent winds and updrafts. Depending on the strength of these updrafts they can be up in the air for long periods of time. Since larger particles are heavier, they travel less far and fall back down to the surface faster than the smaller particles. These storms impact both the regional and global climate. These dust particles, once up in the troposphere, can be coated in pollution. This dirt covered granules then get washed out of the atmosphere by precipitationor rain.

Interstellar not only gets the science right about the dust storms but they use real interview clips from Dust Bowl survivors. They based these interviews on Ken Burn’s documentary that he did for PBS. Director Christopher Nolan and his team do a great job of doing their research and having the movie reflect the real science then add onto the science into the science fiction.