Undular bore off Mauritania
2 July 2014 07:00–19:45 UTC
Early on 2 July an undular bore developed on the coast of Mauritania (south of Nouakchott).
Last Updated
06 September 2022
Published on
02 July 2014
During the day it travelled westward and reached the Cape Verde Islands in the evening. Over the open sea, between 12:00 UTC and 17:00 UTC, it moved at an average speed of 70km/h.
Undular bores are a typical feature of the region. They usually develop from cold outflows of thunderstorms over the Sahara-Sahel area.
This time thunderstorm outflows could not be detected. One possibility could then be that the undular bore grew out of Katabatic winds flowing down the adjacent Trarza desert southwest of Nouakchott and draining the cold air under the night-time inversion there.
Additional content
Undular Bore racing towards the Atlantic
Outflow from convective storm, Mauritania and adjacent Atlantic Ocean
