Swirl of dust over Iraq
3 May 2005 09:00 UTC
A rather unusual dust storm was observed over the south-western part of Iraq on 3 May 2005.
24 May 2022
03 May 2005
By Jochen Kerkmann (EUMETSAT)
The dust storm was caused by strong post-frontal north-westerly winds (Shamal), which blew large amounts of dust towards the Arabian Gulf.
The frontal cloud band itself, with its thick ice clouds, can be seen lying over the western part of Iran. Over south-western Iraq, a swirl which may well be the result of a thermal heat low, originally forming in northern Saudi Arabia, is clearly visible and persists for many hours as it slowly drifts eastwards.
In the afternoon, the dust front reached Bahrain Island and Qatar. It can also be seen from the high-resolution visible (HRV) image that as the Sun reaches lower elevations there is a distinct wave pattern visible at the top of the dust layer.
During the following night the dust storm could still be tracked using MSG channels, in particular using combinations of the IR8.7, IR10.8 and IR12.0 channels.
Animation 07:15–14:30 UTC. Animation 07:30–23:45 UTC
Additional content
Channel 12 (HRV) 12:30 UTC
Animation of Channel 12 (HRV) 07:15–13:30 UTC
