Images
November 13, 2025 - Low Clouds Along the Namib Desert
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Bright orange sands of the hyper-arid Namib Desert create a sharp contrast against a large bank of low cloud over the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern edge of the fog creeps over the coastline but does not encroach inland.
The Namib Sand Sea, a portion of the Earth’s oldest desert, is the only coastal desert in the world that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog, according to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, which inscribed the area as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The Sand Sea stretches over three million hectares and has a buffer zone of 889,500 hectares. It is the location of some of the world’s tallest dunes.
The complex desert landscape of dunes, gravel plains, coastal flats, rocky hills, ephemeral rivers, and a coastal lagoon created many ecological niches and micro-niches. Due to the extreme lack of rainfall, life would struggle to survive in these extreme and changeable niches. Dense and frequent coastal fog provides the primary source of water for the survival of endemic species of invertebrates, reptiles, and mammals. These rugged species have developed adaptations and behaviors to allow them to survive on scant water, such as digging beneath the surface to avoid extreme heat and devising ways to trap moisture from low cloud (fog).
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of fog along the Namib Sand Sea on November 11, 2025 . The desert is located along the coast of southern Africa, in the northern reaches of Namib Desert in the country of Namibia.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/11/2025
Resolutions:
1km (42.6 KB), 500m (111.1 KB), 250m (117.3 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Bright orange sands of the hyper-arid Namib Desert create a sharp contrast against a large bank of low cloud over the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern edge of the fog creeps over the coastline but does not encroach inland. The Namib Sand Sea, a portion of the Earth’s oldest desert, is the only coastal desert in the world that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog, according to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, which inscribed the area as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The Sand Sea stretches over three million hectares and has a buffer zone of 889,500 hectares. It is the location of some of the world’s tallest dunes.
The complex desert landscape of dunes, gravel plains, coastal flats, rocky hills, ephemeral rivers, and a coastal lagoon created many ecological niches and micro-niches. Due to the extreme lack of rainfall, life would struggle to survive in these extreme and changeable niches. Dense and frequent coastal fog provides the primary source of water for the survival of endemic species of invertebrates, reptiles, and mammals. These rugged species have developed adaptations and behaviors to allow them to survive on scant water, such as digging beneath the surface to avoid extreme heat and devising ways to trap moisture from low cloud (fog).
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of fog along the Namib Sand Sea on November 11, 2025 . The desert is located along the coast of southern Africa, in the northern reaches of Namib Desert in the country of Namibia.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/11/2025
Resolutions:
1km (42.6 KB), 500m (111.1 KB), 250m (117.3 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
