Winds shape the sands that were left behind by an ancient river.
Published Jun 4, 2012
Large linear dunes stretch across the Great Eastern Sand Sea of northern Algeria.
Published Apr 4, 2016
A pale, dry riverbed cuts through the red dunes of the Namib Sand Sea.
Published Jan 25, 2010
A plume of black smoke blowing westward is silhouetted against linear dunes in the great sand sea of northeast Libya. Smoke from flares at remote well heads is commonly seen by astronauts flying over the Sahara Desert. The plume dispersal pattern visible at the left edge of the image may be due to upper-level winds or gravitational settling of heavier particulates.
Published Dec 27, 2004
The Ar Rub’ al Khali, or Empty Quarter, covers much of the south-central portion of the Arabian Peninsula and is the largest continuous sand desert on Earth.
Published May 30, 2011
This natural-color image from the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor on the Landsat 7 satellite shows the emptiness of the Erg Iabès in western Algeria’s Adrar province.
Published Dec 3, 2009
This detailed true-color image from February 24, 2011, shows the variety of sand dunes that make up the Algodones Dunes in southeastern California.
Published May 27, 2011
Complex wind patterns left these distinctive star-shapes in the sands of the Grand Erg Oriental.
Published Sep 29, 2013
In a land with little water, the wind does the landscaping most of the time. Ephemeral water leaves a mark, though.
Published Jul 29, 2018
Photographs taken by astronauts on the ISS in 2003 and 2013 show the evolution of a dune field in Chad.
Published Dec 9, 2013
