December 8, 2020 - Dust from Egypt over the Mediterranean Sea

Dust from Egypt over the Mediterranean Sea

A sheet of Saharan dust blew over the Mediterranean Sea in early December 2020. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the shifting dust on December 7.

The dust appears to rise from Egypt, where sand seas extend over much of the country. A little less than 3 percent of the land is arable – and most of the arable land lies along the Nile River. The broad, green Nile River Delta can be seen at the lower edge of the image, just to the right of center and covered by a thin veil of dust. As the dust blows across the Egyptian coast and over the blue waters of the Mediterranean, the thicker plume arcs to the west while the thinner plume blows slightly towards the east.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 12/7/2020
Resolutions: 1km (337.2 KB), 500m (1.1 MB), 250m (3.2 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC