Desert dust

Desert dust can be transported over long distances and impair air quality.

Under certain weather conditions, desert dust can be stirred up by strong winds, transported into higher layers of the atmosphere, and carried over long distances by the large-scale air flow. When concentrations are high, reduced visibility and intensely coloured sunrises and sunsets may be observed.

The maps show the forecasted desert dust load for the coming days. As desert dust particles can spread across large vertical sections of the atmosphere, the vertically accumulated concentrations from the ground to approximately 20 km altitude are shown. 

At GeoSphere Austria, the WRF-Chem model is used to forecast desert dust transport. Since 2022, the forecasts have also been made available to the "Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System" (SDS-WAS) initiative founded by the World Meteorological Organisation. The forecasts of all models participating in the initiative, as well as their evaluation with measurement data, can be found on the website of the Spanish meteorological service (AEMET).