Featured Terra Image:

Dust over the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Terra: 4/1/2013
Dust over the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

A thick plume of dust blew over the eastern Mediterranean Sea on April 1, 2013, extending northward from Egypt toward Turkey in a giant, counter-clockwise arc. Between Egypt and Turkey, dust clogged skies over Israel, the West Bank, and Cyprus. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of the dust plume the same day.

Outside of the Nile River Valley and Delta, Egypt’s land is a dry desert plateau, rich with sand seas that can supply dust storms. In the springtime, hot windstorms can pummel the country. The combination of loose sediments and strong winds make for frequent dust storms, and Egypt lies within a broad band of some of the most prolific dust-producing terrain on the planet.

References

  1. CIA World Factbook. (2013, March 26) Libya. Accessed April 1, 2013.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Michon Scott.

expand image and text

Terra: The EOS Flagship

Terra explores the connections between Earth's atmosphere, land, snow and ice, ocean, and energy balance to understand Earth's climate and climate change and to map the impact of human activity and natural disasters on communities and ecosystems. about terra

Terra globes

Terra Instruments: Scientific Teamwork

Because Terra's five sensors share a platform, they collect complimentary observations of Earth's surface and atmosphere. These varying perspectives of the same event can yield unique insights into the processes that connect Earth's systems. read more