Dust over the Red Sea

Dust over the Red Sea

Dust plumes blew off the coast of Sudan and across the Red Sea on July 26, 2012. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this picture the same day.

MODIS captured the dust storm activity for its third consecutive day on July 26. A few plumes apparently arose from distinct source points near the coast, but farther inland, a large plume of dust also snaked it way roughly northeastward over the desert. A huge network of impermanent rivers stretches across the Nubian Desert in northeastern Sudan, and the fine sediments from these riverbeds can provide plentiful material for dust storms.

NASA image courtesy LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.