The Sahara Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) was a 2006 field campaign to validate measurements of the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) aboard NASA's Terra platform. Researchers made observations of aerosol amount and type over the Moroccan desert. Those sub-orbital aerosol measurements helped put into the satellite's observations into a larger regional context.
The space-based observations captured aerosol optical thickness (AOT) trends and variability over an extended region. Those MISR mid-visible AOT data agreed with SAMUM field measurements point-by-point on three moderately dusty days for which coincident observations were made (May 19, May 28, and June 4, 2006). MISR's ability to distinguish and to map aerosol air masses from the combination of retrieved constraints on particle size, shape, and single-scattering albedo was validated by the field data.
For the three study days, the satellite observations:
- highlighted regional gradients in the mix of dust and background spherical particles,
- identified a dust plume most likely part of a density flow, and
- showed an air mass containing a higher proportion of small, spherical particles than the surroundings, that appears to be aerosol pollution transported from several thousand kilometers away.