Images
May 10, 2020 - Dust off Australia
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A large cloud of light red dust blew off the coast of Victoria and New South Wales in southeastern Australia on May 8, 2020. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene. At the leading edge, the dust is so thick that it obscures the blue waters from view.
At the simplest level, only two factors are required for a dust storm: strong winds and loose, dry soils. These conditions are common in many areas in the Australian Outback, but not as common along the coast, where rain falls more frequently than in arid inland regions—and dust storms are much more common inland than along the coast. Satellite views of southeastern Australia show that this dust most likely originated in the arid Lake Frome basin, which is located well inland in Southern Australia.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/8/2020
Resolutions:
1km (502.4 KB), 500m (1.5 MB), 250m (2.9 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
A large cloud of light red dust blew off the coast of Victoria and New South Wales in southeastern Australia on May 8, 2020. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene. At the leading edge, the dust is so thick that it obscures the blue waters from view.
At the simplest level, only two factors are required for a dust storm: strong winds and loose, dry soils. These conditions are common in many areas in the Australian Outback, but not as common along the coast, where rain falls more frequently than in arid inland regions—and dust storms are much more common inland than along the coast. Satellite views of southeastern Australia show that this dust most likely originated in the arid Lake Frome basin, which is located well inland in Southern Australia.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/8/2020
Resolutions:
1km (502.4 KB), 500m (1.5 MB), 250m (2.9 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
