Dust storm over the eastern Mediterranean

A thick cloud of dust obscured the eastern Mediterranean Sea on February 25, 2006. The dust came from an ongoing dust storm that swept across the Sahara Desert starting on February 23. In this image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, the dust still lingers over Egypt and the Mediterranean. The island of Cyprus is entirely obscured by the thick dust, with the exception of the Troodos Mountains of western Cyprus. The dark green peaks of the mountains rise above the dust cloud, indicating that the dust is sitting low over the Earth’s surface. Turbulence in the air has created several delicate wave patterns in the dust along the western edge of the storm.

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Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published February 27, 2006
Data acquired February 25, 2006

Source:

Terra > MODIS

Collection:

MODIS Rapid Response