November 25, 2019 - Namibia

Orange, tans and russet mark the stunning landscape of Namibia. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the extremely arid landscape on November 22, 2019.

Along the coast, the soft orange sands mark the hyper-arid Namib Desert, where precipitation falls so rarely that what little vegetation exists depends largely on the humidity created by fog that forms offshore and, at times, reaches inland. The silvery sheen of the Atlantic Ocean seen in this image is not fog, however. Known as sunglint, the sheen is created when the sun reflects off the surface of water at the same angle that the satellite sensor views it. The result is a mirror-like specular reflection of sunlight off the water.

Moving inland, the Namib Desert ends abruptly with the rocky outcrops and lines of broken cliffs called the Great Escarpment. Further inland the Great Escarpment gives way to a high-elevation central plateau. While little rain falls in the highlands, it is enough to allow the growth of vegetation which appears as a faint wash of green in this image.

To the southeast, a large salt pan dominates the landscape. The Etosha Pan measures approximately 130 km (81 mi) long and as wide as 50 km (31 mi) in places. The salt pan is usually dry, but in the summer “wet season”, water briefly floats above the bright white salt crust, offering an attractive gathering spot for pelicans and flamingo.

Image Facts
Satellite:
Date Acquired: 11/22/2019
Resolutions: 1km (291.6 KB), 500m (857.5 KB), 250m (599.1 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC