Saharan dust plume

A large dust storm originating from the Sahara Desert has engulfed skies across the central Mediterranean Basin. The suspended particles brought haze and poor air quality.

Images from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission show the dust over Tunisia, Sicily, central Italy and Croatia. Sentinel-2 comprises a constellation of two polar-orbiting satellites and monitors variability in land surface conditions. With its wide swath of 290 km, along with its short revisit time, Sentinel-2 allows rapid changes to be monitored.

The dust is a visible example of air pollution and is harmful to human health, aggravating many pre-existing respiratory conditions. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) helps monitor and forecast air quality on a global scale by assessing the concentration of atmospheric particulate matter, as well as modelling its transport and dispersion.