Images
January 18, 2011 - Dust off the coast of Africa
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Dust from a powerful Saharan storm mixed with smoke from hundreds of fires to form a dense blanket in the skies above western Africa on January 13, 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite captured this true-color image the same day.
The blanket is so thick that it completely obscures the land and ocean, leaving the vaguest impression of the coastline visible. Black borderlines have been overlain on the image, helping to discern the divisions between the countries. The ocean begins where the black line stops abruptly. From the west to east, the countries that lie on the coast are Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin. The inland countries, from west to east, are The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
The presence of dust in the atmosphere has impressive and wide-spread implications for global climate and environment, affecting human health, soils, the ocean, the atmosphere and the climate. The study of the global dust budget is, therefore, an important branch of science.
The global dust budget attempts to account for the emission, atmospheric loading and deposition of the mineral dust aerosol on a global scale. It covers the location and strength of sources, transport paths, atmospheric distribution and deposition of mineral dust aerosol. Quantification and understanding of the global dust budget remains challenging, because direct observation of emission and deposition of a wide area is quite difficult. Satellite imagery and numerical simulations (dust transport models) are two primary methods used to come to a detailed understanding of the role of dust in the global environment.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 1/13/2011
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Dust from a powerful Saharan storm mixed with smoke from hundreds of fires to form a dense blanket in the skies above western Africa on January 13, 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite captured this true-color image the same day.
The blanket is so thick that it completely obscures the land and ocean, leaving the vaguest impression of the coastline visible. Black borderlines have been overlain on the image, helping to discern the divisions between the countries. The ocean begins where the black line stops abruptly. From the west to east, the countries that lie on the coast are Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin. The inland countries, from west to east, are The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
The presence of dust in the atmosphere has impressive and wide-spread implications for global climate and environment, affecting human health, soils, the ocean, the atmosphere and the climate. The study of the global dust budget is, therefore, an important branch of science.
The global dust budget attempts to account for the emission, atmospheric loading and deposition of the mineral dust aerosol on a global scale. It covers the location and strength of sources, transport paths, atmospheric distribution and deposition of mineral dust aerosol. Quantification and understanding of the global dust budget remains challenging, because direct observation of emission and deposition of a wide area is quite difficult. Satellite imagery and numerical simulations (dust transport models) are two primary methods used to come to a detailed understanding of the role of dust in the global environment.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 1/13/2011
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
