Dust storm in the Sahara Desert

  • Credit

    Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Orange-tan veils of dust sweep across the Sahara Desert in northwestern Africa in this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image acquired July 18, 2005 by the Aqua satellite. The dust curls through northern Mali and southern Algeria in this image, obscuring the dramatic geography of the land below. Little to no vegetation grows in this region, and what little does is mostly shrubbery that supports only nomadic herding. Farther south, where precipitation is more regular, peanuts are a popular crop in the grass savannas, but here the precipitation and population are so low that a stationary, agricultural lifestyle isn’t possible.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Aqua/MODIS

  • Visualization Date

    2005-07-22