26 November 2015
A debris flow of ice, water and sand?
Posted by Dave Petley
A debris flow of ice, water and sand?
Just when you think you have seen it all, this pops up on Youtube:-
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This event was apparently associated with the very heavy rainfall across the Middle East at the end of October and first half of December, as described by NASA. This debris flow appears to have been the result of a very heavy hailstorm, but I know no more. A still from the video,suggests that there is a large concentration of hailstones in it:
A debris flow of ice, water and sand via Youtube
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I have never heard of such a debris flow, but am no expert on processes in deserts. I don’t even know if it is for real, though it does not look fake on first inspection. Does anyone know more?
Hat tip to Phil Ashworth on Twitter for coming across this one.
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
Sure seems feasible from what I’ve seen of hailstorms and flash floods in the Southwest U.S.
I sent this link to a Saudi colleague, and he commented that “This is not in the empty quarter as the title claims, apparently from the voice/accent of the people, this is from the North of Saudi Arabia probably near Hafr al-batin because we have quite good amount of rain lately” and “and the talk between the people there didn’t show the location, they were just saying “barad” which means hailstones.” Bizarre desert events!