Dust Reduction - Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) Movement

Visualization of the Godzilla Dust Storm during June 2020. Visualization of the Godzilla Dust Storm during June 2020. This sequence observes the dust storm from West Africa. Frames of Earth imagery of the Godzilla Dust Storm visualization. Images are provided with transparency. This set of frames provides the dates layer. Frames are provided with transparency. Frames of the Earth layer for the Godzilla Dust Storm visualization, as seen from West Africa. Frames are provided with transparency. This set of frames provides the dates layer for the visualization sequence of the Godzilla Dust Storm, as seen from West Africa. Frames are provided with transparency. In June 2020, a "Godzilla" dust plume travelled from the Sahara, the planet’s largest, hottest desert, across the Atlantic ocean to North America. Saharan dust plumes are a natural phenomenon and occur especially during the summertime, due to dust uplift from low level jets and haboobs. This particular event was nicknamed "Godzilla" dust plume, because of its huge extent and massive amount of dust transport - the most intense episode over the past two decades.The data visualizations included on this webpage track the "Godzilla" dust plume by featuring near real-time VIIRS Corrected Reflectance (True Color) daily imagery for the month of June 2020. The first visualization listed on this webpage showcases the trans-Atlantic transport of the dust plume, while the second visualization showcases the formation of the dust plume as seen from West Africa.The Sahara Desert is 3,600,000 square miles (9,200,000 square kilometers) of arid land stretched across the northern half of Africa, coming in just slightly smaller in size than the continental United States. Upwards of 60 million tons of its nutrient-laden sand and soil are lifted into the atmosphere each year, creating a massive layer of hot, dusty air that winds carry across the Atlantic to deliver those nutrients to the ocean and vegetation in South America and the Caribbean.On its journey across the Atlantic, Saharan dust sprinkles into the ocean, feeding the marine life, and similarly plant life once it makes landfall. Minerals like iron and phosphorus in the dust act as a fertilizer for the Amazon rainforest, Earth’s largest and most biodiverse tropical forest, whose rains otherwise wash many of these valuable nutrients into the Amazon river basin. Tracking and understanding dust plumes and their effects is critical, since dust intrusion also affects air quality. The “Godzilla” dust plume degraded the air quality in the Carribean Basin to the hazardous level and the dust intrusion into the U.S. exceeded the EPA air quality in about 40% of the stations in Southern U.S. Breathing in dust is particularly hazardous for children, the elderly, and those with respiratory conditions like asthma. Because of this, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-16 (EAST) satellite, and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the joint NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite are employed to help detect dust plumes, so that at-risk communities could prepare for the potentially adverse health effects.Data Sources:Suomi NPP/VIIRS Corrected Reflectance (True Color). The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Corrected Reflectance imagery is available only as near real-time imagery. The VIIRS instrument in on board the joint NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite. Imagery resolution is 250m, and the temporal resolution is daily. Suomi NPP/VIIRS True Color imagery was used for the following dates:1-2, 4-11, 12-30 June 2020NOAA-20/VIIRS Corrected Reflectance (True Color). The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Corrected Reflectance imagery is available only as near real-time imagery. The VIIRS instrument is aboard the joint NASA/NOAA NOAA-20 (JPSS-1) satellite. Imagery resolution is 250m, and the temporal resolution is daily. NOAA-20/VIIRS True Color imagery was used for the following dates:1, 3, 11, 19 June 2020For the purposes of this visualization sun glint was partially removed from the near-real time VIIRS True Color imagery.We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS).The rest of this webpage offers visual content in layers. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt/2021/nasa-study-predicts-less-saharan-dust-in-future-winds) Related pages

Visualization of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Anomaly with corresponding timeplot tracking the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index over the North Atlantic (0-80N) for the period of 1900-2005. Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Smooth Index for the period 1861-2015. The still image is provided with transparency. Visualization of historical Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Anomaly for the period 1900-2005. The gray inset highlights the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) region over the North Atlantic with extents 0-80N. Frames of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Anomaly averaged for the period 1900-2005. The gray inset indicates the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Region in the North Atlantic, with extents 0-80N. This set of frames serves as a layer and is provided with transparency. This set of frames provides the dates layer. Frames are provided with transparency. This set of frames provides the animated timeplot for the period 1900-2005. The timeplot visualizes the smoothed Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index over the region in the North Atlantic with extents 0-80N. Frames include the labels of Cool and Warm Phases to highlight the pattern and duration of events during the period 1900-2005. Frames are provided with transparency. Title of the visualization sequence. The still image is provided with transparency. Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Smooth Index for the period 1861-2015. The still image is provided with transparency. Data Sources:Atlantic Mutlidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index. The AMO Index is a monthly index of the North Atlantic temperatures from 1856 to present. This data visualization utilized the smoothed, long version of the AMO index. The data is available here: https://psl.noaa.gov/data/timeseries/AMO/Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) v5 (global monthly dataset). Data Citation: Boyin Huang, Peter W. Thorne, Viva F. Banzon, Tim Boyer, Gennady Chepurin, Jay H. Lawrimore, Matthew J. Menne, Thomas M. Smith, Russell S. Vose, and Huai-Min Zhang (2017): NOAA Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST), Version 5. [Subset used: 1854-2020]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. doi: 10.7289/V5T72FNM. [access date: February 2020]. For the purposes of this visualization the science team derived Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (from ERSST v5) for the North Atlantic region (0-80N) for the period 1900-2005.Blue Marble: Next Generation was produced by Reto Stöckli, NASA Earth Observatory (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). Citation: Reto Stöckli, Eric Vermote, Nazmi Saleous, Robert Simmon and David Herring. The Blue Marble Next Generation – A true color earth dataset including seasonal dynamics from MODIS, October 17, 2005.Global 30 Arc-Second Elevation (GTOPO 30) from USGS. doi: 10.5066/F7DF6PQSThe rest of this webpage offers additional versions, frames, layers and colorbar information, associated with the development of this data-driven visualization. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt/2021/nasa-study-predicts-less-saharan-dust-in-future-winds) Related pages