A set of scripts to plot dust concentrations (or rather, aggregate dust loads per square meter surface, which may be more useful for many application) and/or dust transport rates (with current parameters, only along north-south-axis).
python >= 2.4 < 3 (according to the specifications in my version of Basemap), tested in python 2.7.14
Packages: matplotlib, numpy, scipy, pygrib, gribapi, basemap
Pygrib in particular may (or may not -- I only started to work with it after taking a go at the wgrib2's C interface) require the installataion of wgrib2.
For downloading the raw data, you need a free account with the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. After agreeing with their Terms of Use, you get a user key in JSON forma which you have to store as .ecmwfapirc in your home directory.
The script request.py (pulls the required data from ECMWF; most of the keys in the request syntax are self explanatory, if you need more details, start here) can be used to pull data from the ECMWF's repository.
It requires the ECMWFapi module and a (free) registration to obtain a user key. Once the raw data are available, there are two options:
DataReader parses the .grib-files, plottingtools has two classes specially designed to deal with DR's output, one for producing maps (using Basemap), the other one for line graphs.
The script sample.py illustrates these module's use.
A single fully functioning script prototype is also available as mapdust.py.
Usage: type python mapdust.py into the command line (draws the maps)
No warranty, free reuse (Public Domain)