Billows of dust rise over the Sahara Desert of northeastern Africa in this image from June 8, 2010. The tan dust is thick, entirely blocking the view of the ground. The front edge of the storm blows out over the Red Sea. Faint blue and green swirls in the sea are probably phytoplankton, but may also be sediment in the water.
Strong sandstorms are extremely common in Sudan. The powerful storm is called a haboob, and it often accompanies thunderstorms. The winds in this storm blow sand toward the north and east.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on the afternoon of June 8, 2010. The large image is the highest-resolution version of the image. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response Team.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
