Today, 14 May 2013, there was quite a bit of dust and ash blowing out to sea. The conditions were prime, sunny and windy, as can be seen from the wind velocity at Þykkvabær, where the average wind speed was over 15 m/s before noon today.
Satellite images taken at 11:50, 12:10, 13:30 and 13:45, show how the dust and most likely ash (although the distinction can be difficult now) was being blown out to sea by the northerly winds.
11:50
12:10
13:30
13:45
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
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.
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.
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 NOx 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.
