Monitoring the Saharan Air Layer over the Caribbean using Satellite Imagery

The occurrence of Saharan Dust outbreaks are not unusual in the Eastern Caribbean, and there have been well documented studies under various international and regional agencies. With the onset of the Next Generation Satellites such as the NOAA’s GOES 16 Series and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), as well as the METEOSAT, there are new satellite products available to monitor the progress of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) from Africa. The dry, dusty air of the SAL can reach as far as the Texan Coast of the United States, however, the signal in the satellite imagery dissipates as it moves farther from the source region. During the Saharan Air Layer Evaluation Project with GOES-16 and JPSS Products - Phase I: Real-time assessment of next generation satellite products and techniques, the Evaluation was conducted from June 18 to September 30, 2018. The utility of many different dust or moisture products was tested during the SAL events over the evaluation period to determine which of these products perform the best for analysis and forecast applications. The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) participated in the project as an observation point to observe and record the dust outbreaks as they moved over the Eastern Caribbean. At CIMH there were sixteen (16) dust outbreaks from the soft start of the evaluation on June 1, with four (4) outbreaks recorded in June, six (6) in July, four (4) in August and four (4) in September. CIMH also participated in monitoring the outbreak via the satellite imagery as part of the ground truth. At the end of the evaluation period, observations suggested that in term of satellite products, the GeoColor, RGB Airmass, and SAL Split Window channels were the best channels for depicting and tracking the presence of the SAL across the Atlantic.