Two satellite images showing the development of a large dust storm over the Arabian Peninsula
NASA images courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
 
 

On 26 March 2011, a massive dust storm lashed the Arabian Peninsula. It stretched more than 500 km across the peninsula, covering parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

NASA’s Aqua satellite obtained the upper image, on 26 March, and NASA’s Terra satellite captured the lower image, on 27 March.

On 26 March, the storm stopped by of Oman and Yemen, and the opaque cloud of dust was bordered by clear skies to the south. Some dust plumes blew into the Arabian Gulf, toward Iran. The day next, the dust drifted southward, and became particularly thick over Yemen.

According to local news reports, the storm started in the late afternoon on 25 March, in Iraq and Kuwait. The rushing storm lowered visibility to near zero, shrouding Kuwait in darkness. The dust storm closed the Kuwait airport, and disrupted traffic across the Arabian Peninsula.

Intense northwest winds, known as shamal winds, drove the fast-moving storm. They blow in from the northwest with the passing of a storm with a strong cold front, which is the leading edge of a mass of cold air. In this case, the cold front was over Iraq. It brought winds greater than 50 km/h to Kuwait and slightly weaker winds to the rest of the region.

The winds brought dust and sand from Iraq and Kuwait, and blew it across the peninsula. The storm may have also caught material over the Empty Quarter (Rub’ al Khali), a giant sand sea in southern Arabian Peninsula.

References

Earth Observatory
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49892


Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist