NASA Explains 'Dust Bowl' Drought

  • Released Thursday, June 24, 2004
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Abnormal sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean played a strong role in the 1930s dust bowl drought.
Scientists used SST data acquired from old ship records to create starting conditions for the computer models. They let the model run on its own, driven only by the observed monthly global sea surface temperatures. The model was able to reconstruct the Dust Bowl drought quite closely, providing strong evidence that the Great Plains dry spell originated with abnormal sea surface temperatures.
This sequence shows the warmer than normal SST (red-orange) in that the Atlantic Ocean and colder than normal SST (blues) in the Pacific Ocean, followed by a low level jet stream that shifted and weakened reducing the normal supply of moisture to the Great Plains.

This is the standard definition version of the Dust Bowl Model animation MPEG.

This is the high resolution still of the precipitation indicated by the model.

This is the high resolution still of the precipitation indicated by the model.

This is the high resolution still of the precipitation that was observed at the time.

This is the high resolution still of the precipitation that was observed at the time.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab, Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Thursday, June 24, 2004.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.