Whisps of white dust sweep off of northern Namibia’s Skeleton Coast in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image, acquired on June 9, 2004 by NASA’s Terra satellite. The image has been draped over data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission to show changes in elevation. The resulting 3-D image could help pinpoint the source of blowing dust, though in this image, the source is not entirely clear. In the lower right corner are the peaks of the Kaokoveld Mountains. The view of the coast shown here is similar to one a person might have standing (or flying) over Namibia’s northern border looking south-southwest.
Image by Frank Eckardt, Department of Environmental Science, University of Botswana, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC and SRTM data courtesy NASA/JPL/NIMA/USGS, SRTM Science Team.
