Dust from Africa travels to Brazil
25 June 2014 10:45 UTC
Typically, every year between June and August dust travels across the Atlantic. This example shows dust reaching Brazil, during the FIFA World Cup.
04 May 2023
25 June 2014
Download Full Resolution Dust RGB image, Meteosat-10, 25 June 10:45 UTC, showing the dust reaching Brazil.
Download the animation, Dust RGB, 20 June 00:00 UTC–25 June 18:00 UTC.
Million of tons of dust are transported from the Sahara across the Atlantic every summer. Over West Africa dust is lifted either through outflow boundaries of thunderstorm clusters and frontal systems penetrating deep into the Saharan belt, or through turbulence created by low-level easterly winds between a subtropical high and and low pressure in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITZC).
The images below show the dust cloud over the Atlantic on 24 June at 15:00 UTC, just before it reached South America. The Dust RGB shows the dust in medium (not dark) magenta colour, which indicates that the dust is travelling at mid levels (not low levels). The dust can also be seen in the Natural Colours RGB (brown colour), at least the thicker parts of the dust cloud. The thinner parts are better seen in the Dust RGB product.
Image comparison
Comparison of Dust and Natural Colour RGB images on 24 June.
