Calima event in the Canary Islands, Spain
On 3 September 2026, a calima, a flow of warm, dust-laden air from the deserts of North Africa, swept across the eastern Canary Islands, reducing visibility and degrading air quality over Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. The episode prompted the regional government to declare a pre-alert for the islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 3 September 2026, shows the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote under a beige-grey haze extending over the surrounding Atlantic waters. The arid, ochre terrain of Fuerteventura remains recognisable through the suspended particles, while denser dust in the channel between the islands and clouds to the east largely veil Lanzarote.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service provides forecasts of the effects on air quality of dust transport episodes.
