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Blowing dust in Argentina

By Scott Bachmeier •

10-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images (left) and Aerosol Optical Depth derived product (right), from 1500-2000 UTC on 12 June [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images along with the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) derived product from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) displayed a plume of blowing dust — which was originating from salt flats along the northern edge of Laguna Mar Chiquita in northern Argentina — being transported south-southwestward on 12 June 2025. AOD values associated with this dust plume were as high as 1.0 (darker red enhancement).

GOES-19 Aerosol Optical Depth images that included plots of surface reports (below) showed that northeast winds at Cordoba (the METAR site just west of the blowing dust plume) were gusting to 27 knots (31 mph) at 1800 UTC.

10-minute GOES-19 Aerosol Optical Depth derived product with plots of METAR surface reports (cyan), from 1600-2000 UTC on 12 June [click to play MP4 animation]

The GOES-19 Dust Detection derived product (below) also flagged this blowing dust feature.

10-minute GOES-19 Dust Detection derived product with plots of METAR surface reports (cyan), from 1600-2000 UTC on 12 June [click to play MP4 animation]

The strong northeast surface winds responsible for this blowing dust were caused by the pressure gradient between high pressure centered off the east coast of South America and a trough of low pressure across western/central Argentina (below).

CHM surface analyses at 1200 UTC on 12 June and 0000 UTC on 13 June [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-19, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images