On April 9, 2008, numerous dust plumes blew off the Libyan coast and over the Mediterranean Sea. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image the same day. Although contrasting strongly with the underlying ocean water, the tan plumes are thin enough to allow a view of the land and water surfaces underneath the dust. The plumes blow toward the east-northeast, turning more northward as they move farther off the coast.
This dust storm continued a pattern of intermittent storms blowing off the African coast and over the Mediterranean in the early spring of 2008.
You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the storm suitable for use with Google Earth.
References & Resources
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team. Caption by Michon Scott.
