{"id":34387,"date":"2019-09-20T23:59:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T23:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=34387"},"modified":"2020-12-15T16:44:43","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T16:44:43","slug":"saharan-air-layer-plume-over-the-atlantic-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/34387","title":{"rendered":"Saharan Air Layer plume over the Atlantic Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Saharan<\/a>

GOES-16 “Split Window” Saharan Air Layer product [click to play animation | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>GOES-16 (GOES-East)<\/em> Split Window<\/strong><\/a> images (above)<\/strong><\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong><\/a> site (below)<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"GOES-16<\/a>

GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play animation | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>The SAL plume was also apparent in True Color RGB images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 as viewed using RealEarth<\/strong><\/a> (below)<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>A comparison of GOES-16 CIMSS Natural Color RGB<\/strong><\/a>, Aerosol Optical Depth<\/strong><\/a> and Dust Detection<\/strong><\/a> product images from 1500-1900 UTC on 20 September (below)<\/strong><\/em> 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).<\/p>\n

\"GOES-16<\/a>

GOES-16 CIMSS Natural Color RGB, Aerosol Optical Depth, and Dust Detection product [click to play animation | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>

<\/p>\n
\n

Yes, that’s quite a plume. Here’s the #SNPP<\/a> #OMPS<\/a> aerosol index from yesterday that shows how big it is. pic.twitter.com\/WrQjRMZwRK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Colin Seftor (@colin_seftor) September 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n