Saharan Dust over Western Europe

The NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite observed dust plumes from the Saharan Desert drifting over France on March 5, 2026. The dust shows up as high aerosol index values (shown in shades of red and orange) in data acquired by the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard Suomi NPP. 

The colored dots on the second image show the location of ground-based remote sensors in the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). Sites reporting high aerosol optical depth are shown in shades of orange and red. Click on a dot to see the measurement at that location.

Press the "play" button (arrow) in the lower left of this map to see the dust plume moving northward from the Sahara Desert to Spain, Portugal, and France. People in the region have reported orange sunsets, hazy skies, and a layer of fine dust coating land surfaces and objects. The plume was forecasted to move onward to the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. 

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