Saharan Air Layer plume over the Atlantic Ocean
GOES-16 (GOES-East) Split Window images (above) showed a large plume of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) that moved westward off the coast of Africa then westward and northwestward across the eastern and central Atlantic Ocean during the 15-20 September 2019 period.On 20 September, the hazy SAL plume could be easily seen in Full Disk GOES-16 True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images from the AOS site (below).
The SAL plume was also apparent in True Color RGB images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 as viewed using RealEarth (below). A comparison of GOES-16 CIMSS Natural Color RGB, Aerosol Optical Depth and Dust Detection product images from 1500-1900 UTC on 20 September (below) revealed AOD values as high as 0.5 within the hazy dust-laden SAL plume; the Dust Detection product indicated large areas of Low- to Medium-Confidence dust (with isolated pockets of High Confidence).Yes, that’s quite a plume. Here’s the #SNPP #OMPS aerosol index from yesterday that shows how big it is. pic.twitter.com/WrQjRMZwRK
— Colin Seftor (@colin_seftor) September 21, 2019
On a side note, the Full Disk True Color shown above images revealed 3 different types of solar backscatter: a small spot of very bright sun glint off the water of the Amazon River and its tributaries, which moved from east to west — similar to this example from October 2018 (below) along with 2 separate (and larger) areas of more diffuse solar backscatter, which propagated from west to east: the first (possibly a 180º-42º=138º or “rainbow” backscatter) appeared about midway between the Equator and the southern tip of South America — and the second (a 180º backscatter) appeared farther north, closer to the Equator, slightly later in time (this type of solar backscatter was previously discussed here). These 3 solar backscatter features can also be seen in a rocking animation below. Thanks to Fred Wu (NOAA/NESDIS) and Steve Miller (CIRA) for providing further insight regarding the nature of the 2 larger types of solar backscatter.