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July 11, 2023 - Saharan Dust over the Mediterranean
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Dust from the Sahara Desert blew over the Mediterranean Sea in early July 2023. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the storm on July 10.
Spanning about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), the plume covered the Spanish island of Mallorca (west) as well as Italy’s islands of Sardinia (center) and Sicily (east). Ample dust also reaches the Italian mainland, but the skies over Corsica—the island north of Sardinia—remain relatively clear.
Although a source for this dust isn’t visible in this image, it appears to have risen from the Sahara Desert near the border between Algeria and Mali. Sand seas extend over large portions of the Sahara, including in Algeria, Mali, and Mauritania. Such sand seas provide ample material for dust storms, which can occur at any time of the year.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/8/2023
Resolutions:
1km (234.5 KB), 500m (786.1 KB), 250m (2.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Dust from the Sahara Desert blew over the Mediterranean Sea in early July 2023. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the storm on July 10.
Spanning about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), the plume covered the Spanish island of Mallorca (west) as well as Italy’s islands of Sardinia (center) and Sicily (east). Ample dust also reaches the Italian mainland, but the skies over Corsica—the island north of Sardinia—remain relatively clear.
Although a source for this dust isn’t visible in this image, it appears to have risen from the Sahara Desert near the border between Algeria and Mali. Sand seas extend over large portions of the Sahara, including in Algeria, Mali, and Mauritania. Such sand seas provide ample material for dust storms, which can occur at any time of the year.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/8/2023
Resolutions:
1km (234.5 KB), 500m (786.1 KB), 250m (2.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
