Images
March 20, 2022 - Dust off the Arabian Peninsula
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Heavy sheets of dust blew from the southern Arabian Peninsula and across the Gulf of Aden in mid-March 2022. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image on March 18.
Additional images acquired on March 17 revealed that the broad plumes originated from the Arabian Peninsula’s Empty Quarter hung heavily over Yemen on that day. By the next day, the thick dust had broadened into thinner sheets and was heading off the coast of Yemen and Oman in its way to northeastern Africa. The Empty Quarter, also known as the Rub’ al Khali holds plentiful material for dust storms. Considered empty because it has so few human inhabitants, the Empty Quarter contains about half as much sand as the entire Sahara Desert. It extends over portions of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, and is a source of frequent dust storms across the region.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 3/18/2022
Resolutions:
1km (200.8 KB), 500m (641.1 KB), 250m (2.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Heavy sheets of dust blew from the southern Arabian Peninsula and across the Gulf of Aden in mid-March 2022. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image on March 18.
Additional images acquired on March 17 revealed that the broad plumes originated from the Arabian Peninsula’s Empty Quarter hung heavily over Yemen on that day. By the next day, the thick dust had broadened into thinner sheets and was heading off the coast of Yemen and Oman in its way to northeastern Africa. The Empty Quarter, also known as the Rub’ al Khali holds plentiful material for dust storms. Considered empty because it has so few human inhabitants, the Empty Quarter contains about half as much sand as the entire Sahara Desert. It extends over portions of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, and is a source of frequent dust storms across the region.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 3/18/2022
Resolutions:
1km (200.8 KB), 500m (641.1 KB), 250m (2.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
