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Blowing dust in southern Bolivia

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 True Color RGB images (credit: Tim Schmit, ASPB/CIMSS) [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed plumes of blowing dust originating from dry river beds along portions of the Río Grande O Guapay and Río Parapetí in southern Bolivia on 04 July 2020. Strong northerly winds developed across that region, just east of the axis of a deepening trough of low pressure.

VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 as visualized using RealEarth (below) provided a more detailed view at the blowing dust plumes.

VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

A plot of surface report data from Viro Viru International Airport, Santa Cruz de la Sierra — located not far to the north of the blowing dust plumes — showed northerly winds gusting as high as 36 knots (41 mph) at 20 UTC (below).

Plot of surface report data from Viro Viru International Airport [click to enlarge]

Plot of surface report data from Viro Viru International Airport [click to enlarge]

Thanks to Santiago Gassó for pointing out these dust features.

Categories: Air quality, GOES-16, NOAA-20, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP, VIIRS