Data Product: AEROSOL INDEX Aerosol Index Reflectivity The image on the left represents absorbing aerosol particles (airborne microscopic dust/smoke) blowing out to sea from North Africa. The image on the right represents the cloud cover as seen by OMI for the same day and time as the aerosol image. For more details regarding the clouds, see our reflectivity page. The data from TOMS record have been used increasingly to understand the behavior of this material within the atmosphere. The TOMS is the first instrument to allow observation of aerosols as the particles cross the land/sea boundary. Using these data it is possible to observe a wide range of phenomena such as desert dust storms, forest fires and biomass burning. For a definition of aerosol index, click here. We organize our data and image products by the dates a specific spacecraft returned data. Select from the buttons below to get images and data for the dates of interest. Aerosol Optical Depth Data: Click here for information on the description and content of the (last updated on July 25, 2002) aerosol optical depth files. March 2009 Special Note: The Level-3 gridded aerosol index data files for Nimbus-7, Earth Probe TOMS, and OMI were recently replaced. The new files now contain aerosol index values of 0.5 or greater only. Values less than 0.5 are now represented as 999 in the new files. Missing data are also represented as 999 as before.  Choose output (format info): Data file Global Image Select coverage satellite: OMI: 10/1/2004 - Present Earth Probe: 7/25/1996 - 12/31/2005 ADEOS: 9/11/1996 - 6/29/1997 Nimbus 7: 11/1/1978 - 5/6/1993 Date to be studied: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009   Select Image Library Dust Smoke Ash Today's Aerosols