Image of the week - Sahara dust

Image of the week: Saharan dust from space

 

Dust moving over the Atlantic as seen from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite

Image of the week - Sahara dust
Image of the week - Sahara dust

This week’s image of the week focuses on Saharan dust moving across Morocco and Mauritania and out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Last Updated

28 February 2024

Published on

28 February 2024

Desert dust particles are lifted into the atmosphere by gusts of surface wind and can be transported and deposited thousands of kilometres away. 

When Saharan dust travels over populated areas, it can reduce air quality and impact health by causing respiratory problems and also cause flight delays. Over the oceans, dust can act as a fertiliser, stimulating blooms of tiny marine plants (phytoplankton) that are the basis for the marine food chain.

The image was captured by one of the two Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites. 

The Sentinel-3 satellites are in a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 815 kilometres, and they are designed to monitor the Earth's oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere. 

Dust storm image

This image was captured by the OLCI instrument onboard Sentinel-3 on 19 February 2024.

EUMETSAT operates the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites, in cooperation with ESA, and delivers the marine data on behalf of the European Union.

More information

Visualise Sentinel-3 data with EUMETview or WEkEO

Access atmospheric data from EUMETSAT User Portal

Learn more about monitoring dust and aerosols from space - EUMETSAT training

Access Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and five-day global forecast plots 

WMO Barcelona Dust Regional Center