The color assigned to each pixel represents the intensity of the return signal. The color bar displayed below shows the color assigned to each range of measured signal returns in digitizer counts. The count values range from zero for no return to a value less than 4000 for the strongest return.
Prominently featured at the start of this orbit transect is the Atlas Mountain range near 31N, 8W. This mountain range approximately separates a more optically thick aerosol air mass to the southeast from a relatively cleaner air mass to the northwest.
Over the desert interior, the aerosol plume extends in altitude to about 5 km with complex aerosol structures embedded within the mixed layer. The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) extends southeast until it is obscured by the optically thick clouds associated with the InterTropical Convergence Zone.
Over the Atlantic Ocean, northwest of the Atlas Mountains, a considerably weaker aerosol layer is seen extending to heights of about 2 km.