Dust Blowing over the Red Sea

Dust Blowing over the Red Sea

Thick plumes of dust have been sweeping eastward from Africa over the Red Sea. On July 9, 2003, the dust storm appears to have intensified, both in terms of thickness and extent. The light tan color of the dust obscures the view of much of the surface below, extending from the northern portion of the Red Sea (upper left of this scene) to the Gulf of Aden (lower right). This image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite.

The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.

Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC