Aerosols over Africa

Launched in May 2024, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has been making waves, with the first images from three of its scientific instruments already delivered. Now, the spotlight is firmly on the atmospheric lidar, the most advanced of the satellite’s four instruments. This cutting-edge sensor has captured detailed 20 km-high vertical profiles of atmospheric aerosols – tiny particles and droplets from natural sources like wildfires, dust, and sea spray, and from human activities like industrial emissions or burning of wood – and clouds across various regions of the globe.

This image, from the atmospheric lidar on 2 August 2024, is a strip over Africa. As well as high convection clouds, the most prominent feature here is a very dense layer of aerosols from biomass burning, which is common at this time of the year over large parts of the continent. These fires are mostly ignited to remove forest or last year’s crop growth and make way for cleared agricultural land.

Read full story: EarthCARE profiles atmospheric particles in detail