January 2000 Dust and Smoke event West Africa

SeaWiFS Images for January 27-February 3, 2000.

See D. Westphal’s NRL Site for the meteorology, imagery and modeling dust/smoke event

On the evening of Jan 30, 2000, the Kenya Airways Flight 431 was diverted from landing at Lagos, Nigeria to ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast. The stated reason for diversion was thick haze over Lagos. Soon after taking off from Abidjan, the airplane crashed into the ocean killing all aboard. As a contribution to the knowledge pool, this page contains SeaWiFS images of the African dust and smoke event during the January 27-February 3, 2000 period.

Click on the images to see full 4km resolution version.

Fig 1. January 28, 2000. A white dust plume is visible near the center of the image near Lake Chad. The plume is directed from NW to SE

Fig 2. January 29, 2000. White dust plumes are visible both NE and SE from Lake Chad. However, Near the coat over Nigeria, bluish smoke patches are also visible.

Fig 3. January 30, 2000. Bluish smoke plumes cover much of Nigeria including Lagos. The airplane was diverted on this day.

Fig 4. January 31, 2000. Bluish smoke plumes cover the Bay of Guinea.

Fig 5. February 1, 2000. Bluish smoke plumes cover the territory of the Bay of Guinea. Note the major dust plume over the Atlantic.

Fig 6 February 1, 2000. Bluish smoke plumes cover the territory of the Bay of Guinea. Note the major dust plume over the Atlantic

Fig 7. February 3, 2000. Bluish smoke plumes cover the territory of the Bay of Guinea. Note the major dust plume over the Atlantic.