NASA MODIS Image of the Day: October 31, 2008 – Dust Over the Western Sahara Desert
NASA MODIS Image of the Day: October 31, 2008 - Dust Over the Western Sahara Desert
A massive dust storm swept through the western half of the Sahara Desert on October 10, 2008.
The MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture the same day.
In this photo-like image, the dust plume appears as a tan veil that blows over the slightly darker desert floor in a clockwise direction. The source of the dust is not obvious in this image but likely arose from the sand seas in Algeria (top right), and perhaps Mauritania (center). A thin line of clouds mirrors the plume’s movement from Algeria through Mali (lower right) and Mauritania. Likewise, a bank of clouds in the northeast appears to move in the same direction as the dust.
