August 12, 2004
Saharan dust and Charley
The high AOD (~0.6) to the east of Charley appears to be Saharan dust. It has moved further north and west tracking the hurricane, as can be seen in the GASP images in the last two posts.
The raw SeaWifs image from NRL clearly shows the dust across the Atlantic, including a large, very dusty area trapped behind the hurricane.
The NRL model also clearly documents this as dust.
Our colleagues at the University of Wisconsin shared their Saharan Air Layer product, which also shows the dust behind Charley.
The path of thr dust after the hurricane will likely be into Florida and up the east coast, although it may dissipate and disappear from the satellite imagery before it travels very far north.
Posted by Jill Engel-Cox at August 12, 2004 7:17 PM