15 March 2012
Fig. 1
Dust storm off the coasts of Oman
Credit: NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.
On 11 March 2012, dust from the Arabian Peninsula blew over the Arabian Sea. On the same day, NASA’s Aqua satellite obtained an image (Fig. 1) showing this storm.
The dust in this storm likely arose from the Empty Quarter, or Rub’ al Khali, a huge sand sea located in the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Empty Quarter, covering parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, contains about half as much sand as the entire Sahara Desert, and is one of the world’s most prolific dust-producing regions.
The bright area in the lower right of image is due to sunlight reflecting off the sea surface and into the satellite sensor.
References
NASA Earth Observatory
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77408
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist