6. Haboobs and Tule Fog

USC: Spring 2022

Aroussiak Gabrielian

Over the semester I researched the importance and impact of Haboobs. Haboobs are sand and dust storms that range from positive impact on the earth to negative that severely impact and harm lives.

From the research on Haboobs across the world it lead to a fascinating discovery of the Tule Fog, which for a short period of time was being synthetically impacted and created due to miniature dust storms leading to Ammonium Nitrate rising into the air and triggering the process of the Tule Fog formation.

Visiting the Central Valley allowed for me to follow the water that is still exisitng in the area. All the water I encounted was heavily channelized with exception of the water I saw at the Yokut Reservation.

I was surprised by the amount of animal species and ecology that was present even with the minimal amount and access to water. The most surprising part was the amount of wells and the ways of retaining water that either for agriculture or recreation.