Dust storm on 28 April 2013

Strong northerly winds, over 15 m/s, and dry weather, equal dust storm.

Winds at Stórhöfði, Vestmannaeyjar today from IMO.

Zoom in, image from 11:50

Another zoom from 12:10

Dust and ash storm 15 April 2013

High winds, for instance, NW to N winds at 18 – 19 m/s at Höfn, Hornarfirði, between 12 and 15 today. Dust- and ash storm, especially in the SA. Fun to see the time evolution on satellite images from 12:20, 12:40 and 14:00 today.

Images courtesy of NASA/Rapidfire.

Lots of Particulate Matter 14 April 2013

High levels of PM10 measured in Reykjavik, and in Fljótshverfi in the east.

Reykjavík fist, 24-h average about 89.4 µg/m3. Wind not terribly strong, but more wind close by which may have contributed.

In Fljótshverfi very high values !

Fljótshverfi location is shown on the map below (green label beneath Vatnajökull).

Clearly dust and ash blowing around in places, as seen in this satellite image from 13:15 on 14 April 2013. Fljótshverfi partially blocked by light cloud cover unfortunately, but second image below shows how it looked.

Fljótshverfi and surroundings 14 April 2013.

Particulate matter, dust storm and possibly a wildfire

There were many things occurring on Wednesday 10 April 2013.

PM10 was over the health limit in Reykjavik, small dust storm in the south, and possibly also a wildfire. Let’s take a closer look

PM10 was over the limit in Reykjavik, at the station Grensás.

The 24-h average was ~58.6 µg/m³, but the health limit is 50 µg/m³. Wind speed was less than 5 m/s and, even though NO_x isn’t very high, this is most likely connected to traffic.

It was possible to detect a small dust storm, most likely, on a MODIS image, Terra satellite.

(Image courtesy of NASA/Rapidfire)

Then there was a satellite detection of a thermal anomaly, a wildfire. These can be false, and I haven’t seen anything in the news to verify this – if you know whether there was a fire or not, please let me know. This was around 14:00 on 10 April 2013, the location is shown on the figure below.

Map from ja.is.

On a satellite image, taken at 14:00, it is possible to detect what might be smoke from a wildfire ?

Image courtesy of NASA/Rapidfire.