EARTH / DUST

Dust across North Africa

From North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula. Follow dust distribution and intensity through three-hourly analyses.

2–14 September 2026 UTC
2° × 2.5° grid / GEOS-FP analyses

Mean AOD of displayed grid cells0.0454,335 published grid cells / values above 1 saturated

Dust AOD · 550 nm · Linear scale

00.1750.35and above

Color ceiling

Missing / outside ocean coverage

0.35 AOD at 550 nmand above use the maximum color. Source values are unchanged.
Detections at the color ceiling:2 cells

Equirectangular projection · Drag to pan

Base layers

Basemap

Choose a terrain style, then add boundaries and place names.

Map overlays

Relief shading is derived from elevation and water depth. More detail loads as you zoom in. State borders and city names appear at readable scales.

Basemap sources & guide

NOAA ETOPO 2022 ↗: Elevation and depth at 60 arc-seconds. Contour intervals change with zoom: 2,000 / 1,000 / 500 / 200 m. Seafloor relief includes depth contours. Terrain shading is enhanced while data shading stays subtle. Elevations are not extruded in 3D.

Natural Earth 1:10m ↗: Coastlines, administrative boundaries and place names. Borders follow the source's de facto representation; disputed or undetermined boundaries are dashed. Place names follow the selected language where available.

Loading basemap detail…

Preparing the map and full timeline
Once ready, playback needs no further downloads

Select the map to read source values

All three views share the displayed time and selected location.Spatial and temporal interpolation creates neither new observations nor fine-scale vortices.

UTC · Three-hour intervals · 96 frames

2026-09-02 22:30 UTC

1 / 96

Artwork edition ↗Preparing · Fixed period

Bounded cubic interpolation smooths grid corners; values transition continuously between three-hourly analyses. The artwork edition uses a fixed 0–1 scale, unlike the web enhancement setting.

DUST / Three-hourly analysis

Dust leaves the land and spreads across the sky.

Brown fields over a light basemap show dust distribution and intensity. Follow continuous changes using three-hourly atmospheric analyses.

Start exploring

Pause playback and compare values at one location. Adjust the color ceiling to reveal faint dust.

What this visualization shows

This is dust aerosol optical depth (AOD), not surface particulate concentration. Values are GEOS-FP analyses, not forecasts.

How to read this map

Dust AOD at 550 nm from the NASA GEOS-FP analysis model. Not surface concentration or an individual satellite observation.

Source values on an approximately 2° grid are numerically interpolated into a continuous field. This does not create fine vortices or new observations.

保存データと作品版の値域は0〜1です。AOD 1超の397値は既存取得段階で1に飽和しており、正確な超過値はこの公開版からは復元できません。

The display spatially interpolates values. Playback interpolates adjacent time steps without filling missing gaps. Source-grid and displayed values can be inspected separately.

Values are interpolated between three-hourly analyses. This does not estimate new flows or vortices.

Subtle terrain shading and the brown DUST daytime palette reveal dust fields over a light background. The artwork edition retains its original palette.

Select the map to inspect source values. Zooming magnifies the display without changing observation resolution.

Follow dust fields in brown over a light background. Values represent dust aerosol optical depth, not surface particulate concentration or forecasts. The web view starts with a 0–0.35 linear scale to emphasize faint dust. The scale stays constant over time; values above the ceiling share one color. Choose Full source range to return to 0–1.

Sources & this visualization

Source: NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), GEOS-FP. Processed by SORAH.

Made with Natural Earth (v5.1.2; tiled basemap 1:10m, archived releases 1:50m).

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (2022): ETOPO 2022 15 Arc-Second Global Relief Model. doi:10.25921/fd45-gt74. Accessed 2026-09-20; 60 arc-second ice-surface product; new multiresolution basemap tiles use the 60 arc-second source, archived releases use 4 arc-minute sampling.

Official data guide ↗

Source, processing & release record ↗

Web rendering & enhancement settings ↗

SORAH Design System 1.6.0 / Foundations 6.3.0. Phenomenon palette: Earth Language 1.0.0 is retained. Both 3D and 2D interpolate source values before applying colors.