Iceland dust plumes reach hundreds of kilometres out to sea

A MODIS image published by NASA yesterday shows enormous dust plumes in Iceland reaching severeal kilometres out into the Atlantic ocean. Meterologist Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir at the University of Iceland says that this is not unusual. "Iceland is a a great source of sand which is carried by winds hundreds of kilometres from the coast."

The dust plumes originate in Mýrdalssandur, a great expanse of volcanic sands, and Meðallandssandur sand flat, a wide black sand that spans to the Eldvatn river in the East from the Kúðafljót river in the West.

A bridge across Mýrdalssandur, Iceland. Mbl.is/ Jónas Erlendsson