Dust Storm over the Red Sea

Dust Storm over the Red Sea

The dust storm over the Red Sea continued on July 1, 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture the same day. This true-color image shows a massive beige blur almost completely covering the Red Sea and extending all the way to Saudi Arabia.

Because MODIS acquired this image near the edge of the satellite swath—where the sensor peered through a longer path through the atmosphere—the dust in this image likely appears thicker than it would have if MODIS had viewed it from directly overhead.

NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.