January 25, 2016 - Dust storm over Egypt

Dust storm over Egypt

Northern Egypt and the Nile River Delta were shrouded in a powerful dust storm on January 18, 2016. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this true-color image at 1050 UTC (12:50 p.m. local time in Cairo) that same day.

A broad sheet of African sand and dust covers not only Egypt but also reaches Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It is so thick that it obscures the view of the land in several areas in Egypt as well as over the Mediterranean Sea.

Several media reports said the sandstorm turned the sky yellow over downtown Cairo, "blotting out the sun and limiting visibility" on January 18. The limited visibility caused closures of several seaports, including Ain Sokhna, Sharm El-Sheikh and Alexandria.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 1/18/2016
Resolutions: 1km (354.5 KB), 500m (1.2 MB), 250m (2.8 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC