Large dust squall over Niger, Mali & Algeria
9 June 00:00–10 June 10:00 UTC
On 9 June, convection lifts part of the low-lying dust higher up — above the boundary layer — where westerly winds carry it back in an easterly direction.
13 June 2022
09 June 2010
By Jochen Kerkmann and HansPeter Roesli (EUMETSAT)
This spectacular MSG Dust RGB sequence (Figure 1) shows a large dust squall over Niger, Mali and southern Algeria, triggered by a thunderstorm system visible in the lower part of the images, that travelled hundreds of kilometers westwards over the Sahara. This shows how long a distance strong dust squalls can propagate and how well defined they can be at night.
On 9 June, daytime convection lifted part of the low-lying dust higher up — above the boundary layer — where westerly winds carried it back in an easterly direction. The higher level dust can be seen very well in the late afternoon and night hours by its bright magenta colour (as compared to the dark magenta colour of the low-level dust squall). Note that, towards the end of the animation, the westward propagation of the dust squall slows down as it approaches a deformation zone.
