Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

Now that they had confirmed Bi Fang was temporarily unharmed, the audience naturally asked the question they cared about most.

Why would there be a sandstorm in Greenland?

And was this really a sandstorm?

Could they have seen it wrong?

A flurry of questions flooded the live stream, which was normal because in most people’s minds, sandstorms were either associated with deserts or at the very least, with grasslands; how could there be one in Greenland?

Seeing this, Bi Fang immediately reached his hand out of his fur coat, and after a moment, retracted it, baffling everyone. It was only after Bi Fang opened his hand and fished out the drone to activate its night mode that people could see clearly that what was in his palm wasn’t entirely made up of snowflakes.

Bi Fang rubbed it slightly, breathed out a warm breath, and part of the snowflake gradually melted, but in the end, there was still some solid matter left, it looked as if it was still white, and sparkled under the night vision mode.

"See, it is indeed sand," he said.

"Although sandstorms are usually associated with deserts, major sand-dust phenomena also occur frequently in high-latitude regions where the wind can be strong enough to blow underground sediments along the coast."

"Greenland is one of the places with the highest latitude, so it’s no exception; hence, this phenomenon is often observed here. The sand-dust in the wind is mainly glacial dust, a fine-grained silt formed by glaciers grinding rocks."

"This kind of sand-dust is extremely light, allowing the wind to easily blow it into the air. It is most common during the transition from summer to winter, erm, that is, autumn. Our timing really couldn’t be worse, we’ve encountered everything."

Bi Fang said with self-deprecation.

Although the task of surviving one hundred days started in the autumn, before entering the perpetual night, each daytime was a high-efficiency period for accumulating survival resources, but autumn is also a very unstable point in time.

The dynamic change from summer to winter is very unstable, and this instability is the fundamental cause of frequent sandstorms and blizzards.

"During summer, high temperatures cause fast-flowing streams and rivers to carry meltdown water away from the ice cap and towards the ocean, but once autumn arrives, the colder temperatures slow down the melting, the rivers gradually recede, revealing large expanses of glacial mud."

"This mud, just like the sand we see in deserts, provides a critical condition for the three main causes of sandstorms."

The audience suddenly understood.

"To put it simply, glacial dust is created by several glaciers above the valleys, and the wind is triggered by a combination of the low-pressure system that crosses the Greenland ice cap and the subsequent high-pressure ridge. As the water level of autumn streams falls, the floodplains dry up revealing mud that is easily eroded by the wind."

"Mud exposed on the surface prevents the wind from picking up more dust when it snows, but since the summer has melted a large area of snow and hasn’t accumulated a thick enough layer of snow, when strong winds blow, sandstorms naturally occur."

[So much for "to put it simply"!]

[Can you please explain it again in terms simple enough for an idiot to understand?]

[I suspect Old Fang might have misunderstood the meaning of the word "simple" (dog’s head)]

In the transition from melting to freezing, autumn becomes such a tumultuous time.

Bi Fang was somewhat puzzled; they were supposed to have daylight for twenty days, but most of that time had to be spent in this awful weather, making the mission harder than he had anticipated.

"However, everyone shouldn’t worry too much. The sandstorms on Greenland aren’t as severe, and the main concern should be blizzards," he said.

"Comparing it with the Sahara Desert, the wind direction there can toss dust high into the atmosphere, but the height of the dust in Greenland is quite low, no more than one to two kilometers," he explained.

The difference in dust height ultimately meant that the sandstorms in Greenland were entirely different from the vast dust clouds that could linger for days over the Sahara Desert.

This critical point meant that the possibility of Bi Fang being completely buried was not so great; there was no need to worry excessively about being buried alive while sheltering in a sealed space.

The differing amounts of sand meant that the power of sandstorms varied greatly; in cities, the volume of sand wasn’t usually that significant – it was the gales and the respiratory diseases caused by the sand that were the main concerns.

"The Sahara’s sandstorms are truly terrifying," he said. "It’s not unusual for them to change the landscape. Often, travelers will drive through in an off-road vehicle, and then, after a single sandstorm, they’re completely buried alive with no one able to locate them."

"Though not high, the advantage of Greenland is the strong winds, which sometimes are powerful enough to blow sediments in one go from dried-up lakes, river valleys, and erosion plains straight to the coastline," he added.

"In a single day, this dust can race hundreds of kilometers, and it might even reach areas far from the coast. The upside is that it can transport nutrient-rich dust to regions that are typically nutrient-poor, serving as an alternative form of redistribution," he noted.

Due to the sparse human population, the dust storms in Greenland not only don’t pose much harm, but they actually have quite a few benefits.

In high-latitude regions, atmospheric dust affects the formation of ice nuclei, while surface dust decreases the surface albedo and accelerates subsequent ice melt.

Dust can also serve as atmospheric ice nuclei particles, influencing cloud formation and thus affecting the solar radiation process.

The transportation of airborne dust provides a mechanism for transferring sediments and nutrients between unconnected locations in the arid Arctic, and dust deposition affects soil formation on the island, replenishing nutrients for both land and marine life, thereby benefiting nearby organisms.

It can even assist scientific research, as aeolian mineral dust on the ice cap can provide crucial information about climate change. Geologists can investigate the global climate of various periods by studying ice cores and dust.

Past records of core dust reveal the concentration, composition, granularity, and morphology of minerals during glacial formation, much like the growth rings of a tree, aiding in the study of glacial formation as well as significant climatic and geological changes that may have occurred in the meantime.

However, for Bi Fang at the moment, this knowledge was not so comforting.

After he had explained so much, the audience finally understood why there were sandstorms in Greenland. They marveled at the wonders of nature and thought it was a place where anything could happen.

"Let’s hope it ends soon," he sighed.

Bi Fang exhaled deeply, unable to do much in his current situation except to quietly wait for the disaster to pass.

The good news was that food was within view, and there was plenty of it, enough to last until after the disaster was over.

"Wu wu," whined Goudan. To him, the loss was not just freedom but also his dashing Horn Helmet.

He wondered if he would be able to find it again once everything was over.