Dust over the Gulf of California

Dust over the Gulf of California

Dust blew southward over the Gulf of California on December 25, 2007. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this picture the same day. In this image, beige plumes of dust sweep over the gulf, arcing slightly toward the southwest. Below the dust, the ocean water appears pale blue-green, likely resulting from sediment or shallow water. The dust appears thickest immediately south of the paler ocean water, and much thinner plumes of dust appear in the south.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.