November 20, 2022 - Dust Swirling over the Mediterranean

Dust
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Gusting winds carried Saharan dust over the Mediterranean Sea in
mid-November 2022.

On November 17, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
the start of a dust storm, with camel-colored sand and dust blown into
a swirling pattern between Libya (south) and Greece. Subsequent MODIS
images show that clouds of dust have continued to pulse over northern
Libya and the Mediterranean through November 19. While the exact source
of the dust isn’t clear, it appears to primarily rise from sand seas in
northern Libya.

Libya, a country about two-and-a-half times the size of the U.S. state
of Texas, is one of the driest countries in the world. According to the
United Nations Office for Coordination of Human Affairs, as of 2021,
the country is more than ninety-five percent desert, with most of the
land barren with flat to undulating plains. Only about one percent of
the land is arable, and the country is forced to import about 75
percent of the food needed to meet local needs. OCHA notes that the
Great Man-Made River project, which provides 60 per cent of all fresh
water used in Libya, draws water from non-renewable aquifers that
cannot be recharged by rain. The country is susceptible to floods,
sandstorms, dust storm and desertification. The UN notes that Libya is
a country living in “fragile circumstances” and it is one of the areas
severely vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/7/2022
Resolutions: 1km (629.1 KB), 500m (1.5 MB), 250m (863 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-11-20

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