Dense stream of dust between Greece and Libya (17 April 2005)

by HansPeter Roesli (EUMETSAT)

On 17 April 2005 an occluded frontal system was moving east from the Central Mediterranean. It carried a considerable amount of Saharan dust taken up earlier and temporarily darkened the skies on its passage. For instance, in Athens streets the cars had to have their lights on. Passengers on board a container ship sailing from Cyprus to Malta (see images below) passed through the dense dust prior to noon on this day. They took the pictures showing the very poor horizontal visibility that even grounded birds, and the typical reddish dust deposits on parts of the ship.

The weather situation is depicted using the "Airmass" RGB composite image (lower right), where a couple of jet streaks are easily identified, and the frontal system extends from the eastern parts of Europe down to the Libyan-Egyptian border. The main low pressure centre lies over Italy or thereabouts. Seeing the dust is easy and all three images from the same time slot show it very well, although unlike many other dust cases, there was considerable cloudiness covering the dust. The best result is perhaps obtained when combining the HRV channel with the Dust RGB composite (lower left).

Meteosat-8 Images Met-8, 17 April 2005, 09:00 UTC Channel 12 (HRV) Full Resolution (388 KB) Met-8, 17 April 2005, 09:00 UTC Composite of HRV and RGB NIR1.6, VIS0.8, VIS0.6 Full Resolution (436 KB) See also: Dust storm over the Canary Islands (25 August 2004) Dust storm over the Mediterranean Sea (21 February 2004) Dust cloud generated by synoptic system over the Mediterranean Sea (17 April 2001) Composite of HRV and Dust RGB Animation (17 April 2005, 08:15-09:15 UTC, AVI, 1948 KB) Met-8, 17 April 2005, 09:00 UTC Composite of HRV and RGB IR12.0-IR10.8, IR10.8-IR8.7, IR10.8 Full Resolution (552 KB) Animation (08:15-09:15 UTC, AVI, 1948 KB) Met-8, 17 April 2005, 09:00 UTC RGB Composite WV6.2-WV7.3, IR9.7-IR10.8, WV6.2 Full Resolution (439 KB)

Ground-based Pictures taken by passengers on container ship travelling from Cyprus to Malta Picture 01, 17 April 2005 Full Resolution (446 KB) Source: Madeleine and Urs Gaiser Picture 02, 17 April 2005 Full Resolution (398 KB) Source: Madeleine and Urs Gaiser Picture 03, 17 April 2005 Full Resolution (402 KB) Source: Madeleine and Urs Gaiser Picture 04, 17 April 2005 Full Resolution (564 KB) Source: Madeleine and Urs Gaiser

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