Almost like waves on the ocean or blowing dunes in a sandy desert, ripples ornament this airborne dust cloud in response to the rise and fall of the wind. This dust storm sent a thick plume of yellow dust from Libya over the Mediterranean Sea along the western coast of Italy, covering the western half of the island of Sicily. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this photo-like image of the storm on July 28, 2005.

NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.

Instrument: 

Aqua - MODIS