Dust storm – smaller today 23 Feb 2010

The weather is still dry and windy, although it seems less windy today, and dust storms still apparent in satellite data.


This image from 13:00 on 23 Feb 2010 shows small plumes of dust emanating from south of Öræfajökull and from east of Mýrdalsjökull.

Duststorm 22 February 2010

These days sandstorms are frequent. The weather conditions are very favorable, windy, dry and sunny (at least in the southern part of the country) for clear satellite images :-)

These satellite images from Aqua/Terra were taken at 13:10 (above), and 13:55 (below) on Monday 22 February 2010.

Vestmannaeyjar are in the middle of the plume from (just to the left of center of the image, the island south of the main island). Would be fun to hear from people there, get pictures and see data from sand traps :-)

Dust storm on February 21 and 20th

Dust storms on February 21st.

This image taken at 12:55 - 13:00 shows

This one is taken at 13:10 - 13:15.

 

And, although more cloudy on February 20th, we can see similar sources.

Taken on February 20 around 12:10.

Modeling of Particulate Matter pollution in Reykjavík

One of my projects is to model the level of particulate matter pollution in Reykjavik, near Grensásvegur.


The image below is how the model has faired so far (red line is the model and blue line is the measured level of pollution). I have not included information about things like snow cover or dust storms, so some of the discrepancy may be due to that. In any case, this model is supposed to capture the pollution due to traffic and local sources.

  Overall I think it is fair to say that the model does a good job, remembering that these are 30 min values, and local disturbances (even a bus eroding settled dust) are not corrected for in any way.

Dust storm from Landeyjasandi 5 Feb 2010

The weather on the south coast is still dry and sunny, and dust storms are seen emitting from Landeyjasandur (and further east even).  Click on images to see a larger version.

The image above was taken at 12:55, but the one below about 15 minutes later, at 13:10. Images courtesy of MODIS Rapid Response System.

Dust storm from Landeyjasandi 3 February 2010

A dust storm from Landeyjasandi is clearly visible on this satellite image from Wednesday 3 February 2010. The level of particulate matter pollution in Reykjavik was high (at least in some parts) during the day, but that was most likely due to traffic. At least, around 13:05 when this image is taken, the dust did not reach Reykjavik.