July 11, 2023 - Saharan Dust over the Mediterranean

Saharan Dust over the Mediterranean
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Dust from the Sahara Desert blew over the Mediterranean Sea in early
July 2023. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the storm on
July 10.

Spanning about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), the plume covered the
Spanish island of Mallorca (west) as well as Italy’s islands of
Sardinia (center) and Sicily (east). Ample dust also reaches the
Italian mainland, but the skies over Corsica—the island north of
Sardinia—remain relatively clear.

Although a source for this dust isn’t visible in this image, it appears
to have risen from the Sahara Desert near the border between Algeria
and Mali. Sand seas extend over large portions of the Sahara, including
in Algeria, Mali, and Mauritania. Such sand seas provide ample material
for dust storms, which can occur at any time of the year.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/8/2023
Resolutions: 1km (234.5 KB), 500m (786.1 KB), 250m (2.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-07-11

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