Somewhere in the North Atlantic, more than a kilometre beneath its surface, a cold-water coral reef stretches across an unnamed seamount. Despite never appearing on a chart, this underwater forest has existed for centuries, growing a centimetre or two each year.

The reef is a home and feeding ground for dozens of species that depend on it the way a woodland creature depends on trees. It has survived ice ages – but whether it will survive increasing pressures from industrial fishing, deep-sea mining and climate change is, in part, a question about data. If we don’t know it exists, how can we protect it?

A new project called Deep Vision could fundamentally transform our understanding of the deep ocean by digging into pictures and videos sat largely unexamined in research archives around the world. By using AI, thousands of hours of seafloor footage can be analysed to produce the first comprehensive maps of vulnerable marine ecosystems across the entire Atlantic basin.

Over the past two decades, robotic and autonomous underwater vehicles have collected vast quantities of footage from the deep sea. This represents an extraordinary resource – a record of ecosystems that most humans will never see.

The difficulty is that less than half of this imagery has ever been analysed. A single dive can take a trained human analyst two months to process. Multiply that by thousands of dives and you begin to appreciate why this treasure trove of information has remained largely locked away.

The solution, I am convinced, is artificial intelligence.

In research published in 2022, my colleagues and I showed that AI could be trained to successfully analyse over 58,000 deep-sea images in under ten days. The AI model helped us map the distribution of a fragile xenophyophore – a giant single-celled organism that is a recognised indicator of vulnerable marine ecosystems – at a depth of 1,200 metres in the north-east Atlantic. What would have taken a human analyst many months was accomplished in days.

AI also provides consistency. Human analysts, however expert, do not always agree with one another. Indeed, they do not always agree with themselves: a researcher identifying marine species may classify specimens differently at different times. A machine makes errors but it makes them consistently, which means these errors can be identified, corrected and accounted for.

Forests of the deep

Deep Vision is focusing specifically on what we call vulnerable marine ecosystem indicator taxa, such as deep-sea corals and sponges.

These are the organisms I think of as the forests of the deep. In an environment where there are no plants to provide habitats, these animals fulfil this role. They are keystone organisms in the most literal sense: remove them and the ecosystem collapses.

Once AI has extracted biodiversity observations from the imagery, the next stage is to build habitat-suitability models – predictive maps that extend our understanding beyond the specific locations where cameras have surveyed.

Our research shows that high-resolution habitat suitability models are a useful tool in spatial management, capable of informing decisions about where marine-protected areas should be located. However, the quality of the underlying seafloor data remains critical to how well they perform.

As a marine biologist, I sometimes get asked why people should care about a sponge living two kilometres beneath the surface of the Atlantic. It is a fair question, and the answer is more immediate than most people expect. These animals recycle essential nutrients and play a key role in the carbon cycle, and that effects us all.

The ocean is the engine room of a planetary life-support system, and effective management of it relies on having the best possible understanding of the species and ecosystems within it.

If this project succeeds in the Atlantic, the methods could be replicated in other ocean basins. The Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean all present the same challenges of insufficient data and vast unexplored territory.

The actress played Tina Carter on the BBC soap for nearly a decade

EastEnders star Luisa Bradshaw-White has said that she ‘nearly didn’t survive serious mental illness’ as she provided a candid insight into her life away from the spotlight.

Rising to fame in Herte in A Friendship in Vienna in 1988, Luisa went on to land roles in hit shows on the BBC and ITV such as Grange Hill, The Bill and Birds of a Feather.

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Prior to landing a role on Albert Square, Luisa worked on Holby City from 2001 to 2005, where she played a midwife named Lisa Fox.on the hospital soap. Gaining further soap experience on Doctors, Luisa joined EastEnders as Tina Carter in 2011.

Appearing in 673 episodes, Tina was the sister of Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), joining around the same time as Danny Dyer’s Mick Carter and Kellie Bright’s Linda Carter in 2013.

Tina was involved in a number of major relationships over the years, including when she was abused by her partner Tosh Mackintosh (Rebecca Scroggs), in a relationship with onia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) and accidentally hit Janet Mitchell (Grace) with her car.

Sadly, Luisa’s exit was a permanent one in December 2020, when Tina was murdered by Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith), who hid her body under the floorboards of the Argee Bhajee restaurant.

Remaining undiscovered for over a year, Tina appeared in a special flashback in 2021 before Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) finally discovered her body in 2022.

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Taking to Instagram on Thursday (March 6), Luisa took to Instagram with a selfie to reveal that she ‘used to be an actor’ and has now ‘found her space in the world’ in ‘musical journeys’.

Sharing a selfie, she captioned her post: “Hey to all new people finding their way to this account. This is me. Luissa. I have very big feelings. I used to be an actor so I had a place to put those big feelings, but it didn’t feel like where I was supposed to be.

“I also tried to suppress those big feelings and that led to a serious mental illness, psychiatric hospitals and something I nearly didn’t survive. I now feel like I have found my space in the world.

“I don’t try to hide my big feelings. I know they are powerful indicators for how to live my life fully. I know that when I go in deep to the big feelings I experience, with a feeling of curiosity and love, i emerge out the other side with new wisdom with new insights and feeling so much more self love and clarity about who I am. I am not afraid of the dark.”

She continued: “I now create musical journeys for free form dance and Breathwork ceremonies using my big feelings. I listen deeply to spirit to create waves of music to help me express all I feel about life and the life I have lived and all that wants to move thru my body.

“My favourite thing about my life now is that I have found people like me who want to come and dance and breathe to feel all this too.

“And somehow they move thru some of the same feelings that I have been experiencing. I’m so grateful that I have access to all these big, wild emotions…

“If you would like to come and experience and explore your own deep feelings you would be so welcome. Sometimes it takes a while to find them… & Sometimes they are there in the discomfort of just turning up new to something, raw and out of your comfort zone.”

Luisa’s post arrives after she said last year that she ‘cries every day’ due to ‘experiences’ she ‘couldn’t fit into words’.

“Finding it hard to post these days as the experiences I am having can’t fit into words. My ability to feel just keeps expanding. And when I say this I mean feeling ALL of it! I am nearly always cracked wide open at the beauty of life….. and the pain. Devastatingly beautiful.

“I cry every day. I can’t stop. There are so many similarities to when I was diagnosed Bipolar years ago and then sadly heavily medicated. It makes me question the diagnosis and DEFINITELY question the medication but that is another story and another timeline. WE HAVE BEEN MADE TO FEAR OUR FEELINGS OUR EMOTIONS.

“I have so many people around me experiencing the same. I am so grounded and without fear. I am able to hold these intense energies and frequencies. I love myself so fiercely in this intense energy,” she said.

Luisa added: “I cry to move the energy. I cry because life is so beautiful. I cry because I get to be this free, this sovereign in this lifetime. I cry because I am not alone, even when there are no human souls around me I have everything in nature holding me.

“I cry because it gets to be THIS GOOD TO FEEL EVERYTHING. It has never felt so good and so safe to feel so much. Whatever you are experiencing in this portal we are in… surrender. And love.”

Nick Foligno is joining his brother Marcus with the Minnesota Wild, who started off NHL trade deadline day by making two moves they hope will finally deliver some playoff success.

Minnesota acquired Foligno from the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the deadline Friday, sending future considerations back to a rebuilding organization doing its 38-year-old captain a favor by giving him a chance not only to play with his brother but chase the Stanley Cup.

The Wild, who have not advanced beyond the first round since 2015 and have only one trip beyond the second in franchise history back in 2003, have been active all week. Before getting Foligno, they acquired forward Bobby Brink from Philadelphia, sending defenseman David Jiricek to the Flyers.

Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin, fresh off constructing the U.S. roster that won gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics, has been active all week. He claimed forward Robby Fabbri off waivers from St. Louis and made trades with Nashville for center Michael McCarron and Florida for defenseman Jeff Petry, filling a handful of depth needs and getting better at faceoffs, one of the Wild’s biggest weaknesses.

They’re not the the only ones adding.

Tampa Bay acquired Corey Perry from Los Angeles for a 2028 second-round pick, with the Kings retaining half of his salary.

Perry, who turns 41 in May, has reached the final and lost in five of the past six years, including 2022 with the Lightning. The pesky winger has a Cup ring from 2007 with Anaheim and gives coach Jon Cooper’s team veteran experience and an edge.

It’s a seller’s market on deadline day

With the likes of Vincent Trocheck, Nazem Kadri, Justin Faulk and maybe even Robert Thomas still on the market with an hour left, sellers appeared to be in control, with prices high and leaving playoff-contending buyers weighing a range of options.

Trocheck remains with the New York Rangers, who traded Sam Carrick to Buffalo. Toronto has multiple players on the block. And St. Louis is open for business with almost everyone on its roster gettable at the right price, from Thomas and Faulk to Colton Parayko and Jordan Binnington.

Toronto sat three players — forwards Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann, and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson — for its past two games to prevent them from getting injured.

John Carlson to the Ducks headlined the overnight trades

John Carlson is going to the Anaheim Ducks as part of a surprising deal from the Washington Capitals agreed to just after midnight. Anaheim sent a conditional first-round pick in either this or next year’s draft plus a 2027 third-rounder to Washington for Carlson, a 36-year-old defenseman who has only played in the league for the Capitals since 2009 and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2018.

Carlson is a pending free agent without a contract beyond this year but was not expected to get moved before the deadline. He joins the Ducks as they look to end a seven-year playoff drought.

“John Carlson brings leadership, character, a high hockey IQ and a presence to our lineup,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. “We are very excited to add a Stanley Cup winner to complement our group and make a big push down the stretch.”

Also overnight, the Sabres added defensemen Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley from Winnipeg, while the Blue Jackets won a bidding war to get winger Conor Garland from Vancouver.

Poised to end an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought, the Sabres sent forward Isak Rosen, defenseman Jacob Bryson, a 2026 fourth-round pick and a 2027 second-rounder to the Jets for Schenn and Stanley. They also got Carrick for third- and sixth-round picks.

Though they struck out on finalizing a deal with the Blues for Parayko, who invoked his no-trade clause in rejecting a trade to Buffalo, the Sabres have already shored up plenty of depth needs without affecting their core roster.

Columbus sent a third-round pick in the draft this year and a 2028 second-rounder to the Canucks for Garland, the soon-to-be 30-year-old who drew interest from multiple Eastern Conference contenders.

Which teams are still looking to make moves?

Much of the action Friday could be in the Eastern Conference after most of the top teams in the West did their shopping earlier this week. Back-to-back Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton is expected to be done after shoring up its defense with Connor Murphy and getting shutdown center Jason Dickinson in separate trades with Chicago; Dallas made moves for Tyler Myers and Michael Bunting; and league-best Colorado filled its biggest need at center by getting Nicolas Roy from Toronto.

Minnesota has added around the edges, though the Wild remain on the lookout for a top-six center who can help them match up with the Stars and Avalanche to get through a gauntlet of a Central Division.

Carolina and Tampa Bay are atop a wide-open East and, along with Detroit, would seem to be in the running for Trocheck and others. The Sabres, who swung big and missed on Parayko and Blues teammate Robert Thomas, also could be active.

Two-time defending champion Panthers have players available

Florida, after winning the Stanley Cup back to back and making three trips to the final in a row, is heading toward missing the playoffs, the first time for a defending champ since Los Angeles in 2015. Captain Aleksander Barkov’s torn ACL started a series of injuries that derailed the Panthers’ season and made them unexpected sellers.

As such, they are a team to watch in the final hours. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is a pending free agent, though depth forward A.J. Greer appears more likely to get traded, along with a handful of others.

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AP Sports Writers Greg Beacham and Dave Campbell contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Pakistani and Afghan troops have been exchanging fire along their border in their conflict, which the United Nations estimates has displaced more than 100,000 people.

Fighting began last week with Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan ​that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds.

Afghanistan described the attacks as a violation of sovereignty, and announced retaliatory operations. It also denied harbouring militants executing attacks on Pakistan from its soil.

The Taliban claims the militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.

On Friday, Afghan officials ​said Taliban forces struck Pakistani military installations in more than two dozen locations along the 1,600-mile (2,600km) border, destroying 14 posts and ‌shooting down a drone.

It said seven Afghan civilians and three Taliban fighters were killed in overnight fighting.

Meanwhile, Pakistani security sources said they carried out ground and air operations against military targets ​including Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban, and destroyed several Afghan border posts.

Both sides have regularly said that they inflicted heavy ​damage on the other, and killed hundreds of opposition troops, without providing evidence.

“The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan remains tense amid active conflict along the border,” the United Nations refugee agency said.

It added that some 115,000 people in Afghanistan, and 3,000 in Pakistan, were thought to have fled their homes.

Dozens gathered in Kabul on Friday to protest against the attacks on Afghan territory, chanting anti-Pakistan slogans, a witness said.

The Bakhter news agency said a large gathering in Laghman Province ​demonstrated against Pakistan’s recent attacks.

Several countries have offered to negotiate a truce, most recently Turkey, although the Iran war has diverted the attention of some nations which had stepped forward.

Pakistani government ⁠spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi said no negotiations were taking place to end the conflict.

“There is nothing to talk about. ​There will be no dialogue, and no negotiations,” he told state-owned Pakistan TV.

“Terrorism from Afghanistan has to ​end – that is Afghanistan’s problem. Pakistan’s responsibility is to protect its citizens.”

Read more from Sky News:
Who’s in charge of Iran – and who could lead next?
The global economy’s worst nightmare is here

The UN ​mission in Afghanistan has said 56 civilians have been killed in the country, and 128 wounded, since fighting began.

The Taliban government has said that 110 civilians have been killed. Pakistan has rejected both sets of figures, saying it targets only ‌militants and support infrastructure.

Trump previously claimed the “big wave hasn’t even happened”

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Donald Trump has reportedly dispatched B-2 stealth bombers, the world’s most expensive warplanes, to UK bases for use in Iran.

The heavy strategic bombers will arrive at Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands, which has sparked a rift between Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the latter’s deal to transfer sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius while securing a 99-year lease to operate the military base.

RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, will also see the B-2 stealth bombers this week, The Telegraph reports.

The move follows Trump’s words that Iran will soon be hit with a devastating wave of strikes. “We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon,” Trump said on Monday (March 2).

B-2 stealth bombers cost about $2 billion each, making them the world’s most expensive aircraft, according to Fox News.

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The Wildlife Trust that manages the reserve said it only cuts down trees affected by disease, or which might become a risk in future

Beekeepers were left ‘shocked’ after discovering dozens of trees had been cut down at a Cambridgeshire nature reserve. Peter Kasztelewicz, cofounder of Cambridge Honeybees Farm, was called to the Fulbourn Fen Nature Reserve to rescue a wild bee colony.

When beekeepers arrived, they found heavy machinery at the Ansetts Wood site and large piles of trees that had been cut down. The beekeepers described the area as looking ‘apocalyptic’.

The Wildlife Trust, which manages the reserve, said “ash dieback has affected many trees in the wood” meaning it was “no longer safe”. The Wildlife Trust said a project has been “scrutinised and approved” by the relevant authorities to restore the woods.

The trust said it only cuts down trees that have been affected by ash dieback or might become a risk in the future. They added that the wood is also suffering from sooty bark disease, accelerated by the drought last summer.

Mr Kasztelewicz has argued the nature reserve is not a public park and should be left alone with visitors told they enter the forest at their own risk. He believes the reserve should be left “untouched or managed only minimally”.

He added many of the trees “contained hollows that serves as homes for bees, birds, squirrels, and other species”. He claimed the area has been left with “no standing deadwood” for wildlife to live in.

The Wildlife Trust said it will start planting new trees in autumn to help restore the area. However, Mr Kasztelewicz has stated it will take decades for the newly planted trees to reach the same size as the old trees.

“Ansetts Wood at Fulbourn Fen is a special place for wildlife and for local people to visit,” a spokesperson for the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northants said. “After raising the funding we have worked hard to prepare what is a difficult and sensitive job.

“The project plan has been scrutinised and approved by all the relevant authorities including Natural England, the Forestry Commission and South Cambridgeshire District Council and an experienced contractor appointed.”

They continued: “Once the work is complete we will begin restoring the wood and new trees will be planted in the autumn. We care a great deal for Ansetts Wood and we are committed to ensure it thrives for people and nature for many years to come.

“Felling has now finished and we hope to have it open again in the coming weeks – we’d like to thank the local community for their patience while the wood has been closed.”

The young trees were planted on green land close to Hall I’th’ Wood museum just last month, before being discovered torn up and strewn across the green.

A member of the public discovered the scene on the land across from Astley Bridge Police Station and alerted Bolton Council, who reported it to the police.

The trees were planted in February by volunteers and staff from City of Trees, and took two days to plant.

The saplings were torn up and strewn across the green (Image: Bolton Council)

Cllr Richard Silvester, Bolton Council’s executive member for climate change and environment, condemned the incident as “utterly shameful”.

He said: “This kind of mindless vandalism is utterly shameful and whoever has done it is a disgrace to themselves and their community.

 “Bolton’s green spaces are valued by young and old, and one of the things councillors are most often asked is to plant more trees.

 “It’s awful to see trees that could have been enjoyed by generations to come ripped from the ground, and I’m determined to find the culprits.”

Cllr Jackie Schofield, of Bradshaw, also condemned the act and said there was still hope some of the trees could be saved.

The Labour councillor said: “I’m shocked at the destruction of these young trees and what a great addition they would have been for the local community.

“We are working with the local officers to try to reach a solution to it. Officers have done an assessment and hopefully we can save some of the trees in the area.”

The 16 clubs involved in this weekend’s FA Cup fifth round will hope to have their name in the hat when the draw for the quarter-finals takes place next week.

Amongst the teams eyeing a spot in the last eight are Arsenal and Manchester City, who are both still going strong in all four competitions this season.

Mikel Arteta’s men make the trip to take on League One outfit Mansfield Town, whilst Pep Guardiola’s side head to Newcastle for an all-Premier League showdown.

Chelsea face a potentially awkward-looking clash away at Wrexham, whilst Liverpool return to Molineux looking to avenge Tuesday night’s defeat in the Premier League.

When is the FA Cup quarter-final draw?

The FA Cup draw will be held on Monday, March 9, during TNT Sports’ coverage of West Ham vs Brentford.

How to watch on TV and live stream

The FA Cup draw will be available to watch on TNT Sports 1 and via the discovery+ app and website.

The draw will also be streamed live for free on the TNT Sports YouTube channel.

When will the quarter-final games be played?

The quarter-final games will take place on the weekend of Saturday, April 7.

Are there replays in the FA Cup this year?

Replays are not in use in any of the full rounds of this season’s FA Cup.

The FA scrapped replays from the first round onwards in last year’s competition and that has continued into the 2025/26 edition.

The move is aimed at reducing fixture congestion in an already busy calendar.

MORE: Alan Shearer’s FA Cup predictions including Wrexham vs Chelsea and Mansfield vs Arsenal

MORE: Which FA Cup games are on TV this weekend? Full BBC, TNT Sports and discovery+ schedule

MORE: Gary Neville names the competition Mikel Arteta must ‘risk’ for Arsenal

​Network Rail’s proposal to install three new ‘help points’ and replace two existing points at Scarborough Station to “enhance the information” available to people has received the green light.

​The listed building consent includes permission for the installation of state-of-the-art equipment that is designed to comply with legal accessibility provisions and seeks to improve convenience for customers.

​Passengers using the proposed help points would be connected directly to call centres with two ‘call buttons’.

​One would connect to an operator able to provide train running information, and the other is intended for use in an emergency to summon assistance.

​Council officers said that the help points are “considered to be modest in their size, appearance and positioning in the station, which is not attached to any of the historic masonry”.

​They added that “likewise, it will not result in the loss of any part of the historic fabric of the listed building”.

​NYC’s conservation officer was consulted on the plans and did not object to the scheme, stating that the works are “modest, proportionate, and reversible”.

​Plans submitted to the council stated: “The purpose of the project is to enhance information available to customers in order to increase the sense of reassurance and security of travelling by train.

​“The help points subject to the accompanying listed building consent application will follow the principle of inclusive design, ensuring that all passengers, including those with disabilities or other access needs, are able to use them independently, safely, and with dignity.”

​The application was approved by North Yorkshire Council, subject to conditions.

​

When Saharan dust reaches the UK and Europe, as a huge country-sized cloud did over the past few days, it can transform the sky. Tiny particles drifting in the atmosphere scatter blue light while allowing reds and oranges to reach us intact, producing beautiful sunsets.

But these striking displays are also a reminder of how connected the Earth is. Dust drifting over my head in England may have rested on the dry surface of the Sahara for thousands of years, before a burst of wind lifted it into the atmosphere and carried it thousands of kilometres north.

In spring, the massive temperature difference between the already-hot Sahara and still-snow-covered mountains in Europe can generate powerful low-pressure systems that sweep dust northwards.

But these familiar weather systems are not actually responsible for most Saharan dust. Instead, much of it is produced by a special kind of desert thunderstorm – a process that climate models struggle to simulate.

When faced with the question of how dust outbreaks will change as the climate warms, simulations from the latest generation of climate models suggest Saharan dust emissions could increase by up to 13% by the end of the century. If winds blow in the right direction, that could mean more dust reaching Europe.

However, the real story of how Saharan dust is generated is more complicated – and much more interesting.

Hunting the world’s biggest dust source

Some 20 years ago, colleagues and I travelled to one of the most remote places in the Sahara: the Bodélé Depression in Chad. A satellite that was intended to measure ozone also, by accident, seemed capable of measuring dust – and suggested this basin might be the world’s single biggest source of airborne dust.

At that time, there were no direct meteorological measurements – so we installed instruments across the desert to measure winds and atmospheric conditions. We discovered an astonishing wind concentrated between the Tibesti and Ennedi mountains, which we called the Bodélé low-level jet.

Near the Earth’s surface, the wind there regularly exceeded 16 metres per second – a “moderate gale” in the Beaufort wind scale, easily strong enough to lift vast quantities of fine sediment into the atmosphere.

These winds explain why Bodélé is such a big dust source. There are many such low-level jets across the Sahara, but none as grand as this one.

Nowadays, climate models can simulate these jets. While they typically underestimate their strength, these are tolerable errors – the model at least simulates the mechanism that makes the dust.

However, in the early 2010s, when we turned our attention to summer dust storms elsewhere in the Sahara, the story became far more surprising.

The hidden storms that raise most Saharan dust

During summer, the largest sources of dust shift westwards to countries like Algeria, Mali, Niger and Mauritania. To understand what drives these emissions, we deployed around 30 tonnes of meteorological equipment across the region, with the assistance of the Algerian meteorological service.

This produced some enthralling results – most notably: around 80% of Saharan dust emissions in summer are produced by thunderstorms.

These are special thunderstorms. Because the Saharan air is so dry, clouds often sit more than five kilometres above the surface. Rain falling from these storms usually evaporates long before it reaches the ground.

The evaporation cools the surrounding air, which becomes dense and plunges downwards, spreading out rapidly when it hits the surface. As it spreads across the desert floor, this wall of wind scrapes up huge quantities of dust.

Using satellites, we tracked more than 1,500 of these events. Many travel hundreds of kilometres across the desert, mostly at night, raising huge plumes of dust. In fact, these “dry thunderstorms” appear to be responsible for the vast majority of Saharan dust produced during summer.

The modelling problem

This discovery creates a problem for climate predictions.

The global climate models used to estimate future dust levels are very powerful. But they do not zoom in enough to simulate individual thunderstorms, or the pools of cold air they produce. In other words, the models that suggest Saharan dust emissions could increase by 13% do not simulate the processes that are responsible for most Saharan dust in the first place.

Instead, they are typically tuned to match dust concentrations measured by sparse monitoring networks far from the sources of the dust. This means we cannot rely on these particular tools.

There is hope, though. A new generation of very high resolution “convection-permitting” climate models do simulate thunderstorms and will, given time, provide us with better estimates of the future.

Climate change could also influence the storms themselves. A warming Mediterranean may pull the West African Monsoon further north into the Sahara, for instance, potentially creating more favourable conditions for dust-producing thunderstorms.

Exactly how this will play out remains an open question. For now, Saharan sunsets in Europe are a reminder that the atmosphere around us is linked to distant deserts – and that some of the most important processes linking the two are still being uncovered.