A dust plume blew out over the Red Sea in early June 2012, extending from the coast of Sudan in a large arc toward the southeast. Dust began blowing off the Sudan coast on June 7, and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image the next day. The plume was thick enough to completely hide the water surface below, and a veil of thinner dust hung over the entire region.
A network of impermanent rivers stretches over much of eastern Sudan, and the fine sediments from these waterways might have contributed to the plume over the Red Sea. Some of the dust might also have originated farther inland.
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NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Michon Scott
