October 5, 2022 - Dust over the Iberian Peninsula

Dust over the Iberian Peninsula

A sweeping dust storm carried dust from the Sahara Desert over the Mediterranean Sea and the Iberian Peninsula in early October 2022. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the thick plume of dust on October 3.

The dust appears to have originated from Erg Chech, an inhospitable and arid sand sea located in southwestern Algeria near the border with Mali. Satellite imagery shows a plume of tan dust rising from that location on October 1 and curling over Portugal and Spain by October 3. By October 4 the dust was beginning to thin, especially over Portugal. Local media reports that sandy skies, with the potential of mud-tinted rain, is expected to continue through October 6.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/3/2022
Resolutions: 1km (2.2 MB), 500m (6.1 MB), 250m (13.3 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC