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Dust Blowing over the Red Se
…
| Title |
Dust Blowing over the Red Sea |
| Description |
An immense dust storm was blowing over the Red Sea from East Africa on June 21, 2003. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Aqua satellite shows a thick cloud of desert dust shrouding (top left to bottom) Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. The thick plume stretches across the Red Sea (center) and breaks like a wave across the shores of Saudi Arabia and Yemen (top and bottom right). The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Dust Blowing over the Red Se
…
| Title |
Dust Blowing over the Red Sea |
| Description |
Thick plumes of tan-colored dust are blowing across the Red Sea in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Terra satellite on June 30, 2003. The dust is especially thick across Sudan (top left), but also covers Eritrea (to the south), and Saudi Arabia and Yemen (north and south, respectively) across the Red Sea. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Dust Storm Over Red Sea
| Title |
Dust Storm Over Red Sea |
| Description |
A great cloud of dust and sand hangs over the Red Sea (image center) in this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured on August 20, 2003. The cloud of dust begins at the border of Egypt (top left) and Sudan (below) and stretches southward to Eritrea and eastward across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Dust Storm over the Persian
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| Title |
Dust Storm over the Persian Gulf |
| Description |
A dust storm from the Arabian Peninsula blew across the Persian Gulf toward Iran on February 17, 2007. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite took this picture the same day, capturing the pale beige plumes of dust blowing toward the northeast over the ocean. Also visible are blue-green patches in the ocean, likely resulting from sediment or shallow water. Along the coast of the United Arab Emirates, just barely out of the path of the dust, are artificial island resorts. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17435 ] Along with northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula is one of the world's most dust-prone regions. A massive sand desert, Ar Rub' al Khali, [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub'_al_Khali ] covers much of southern Saudi Arabia, northern Yemen and Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, providing ample material for dust storms. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Dust Storm over the Red Sea
| Title |
Dust Storm over the Red Sea |
| Description |
A dust storm swept over the Red Sea on June 21, 2005. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] flying onboard the Aqua [ http://www.aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image the same day. Dust obscured the satellite?s view of the Red Sea and the neighboring countries: Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia on the west, and Saudi Arabia and Yemen on the East. Most of Earth?s dust storms arise in a few regions, including the Sahara and the Middle East. As desertification increases, dust storms are likely to follow. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has just released its Desertification Synthesis [ http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx ]. The report predicts that the planet?s dry regions will spread as the land surface responds to increased human pressure from poor crop and soil management and irrigation misuse. NASA image courtesy of Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ], NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Dust Storm over the Red Sea
| Title |
Dust Storm over the Red Sea |
| Description |
In the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, dust storms originating in the deserts around the Arabian Peninsula have a significant impact on the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface. Winds sweep desert sands into the air and transport them eastward toward India and Asia with the seasonal monsoon. These airborne particles absorb and deflect incoming radiation and can produce a cooling effect as far away as North America. According to calculations performed by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the terrain surrounding the southern portions of the Red Sea is one of the areas most dramatically cooled by the presence of summertime dust storms. That region is shown experiencing a dust storm in this true-color image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) acquired on July 11, 2002. The GISS model simulations indicate that between June and August, the temperatures would be as much as 2 degrees Celsius warmer than they are if it weren't for the dust in the air?a cooling equivalent to the passage of a rain cloud overhead. The image shows the African countries of Sudan (top left), Ethiopia (bottom left), with Eritrea nestled between them along the western coast of the Red Sea. Toward the right side of the image are Saudi Arabia (top) and Yemen (bottom) on the Arabian Peninsula. Overlooking the Red Sea, a long escarpment runs along the western edge of the Arabian Peninsula, and in this image appears to be blocking the full eastward expansion of the dust storm. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] at NASA GSFC |
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Locust Swarms in Africa and
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| Title |
Locust Swarms in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula |
| Description |
Alone, the desert locust is nothing to worry about. It is a solitary creature that stays out of sight munching on plants. But when enough locusts are packed into a small area, they form aggressive swarms that migrate from place to place, consuming all vegetation in their path. The transformation from solitary insect to plaguing swarm happens when conditions force the locusts into close confinement. Along the shores of the Red Sea, the locusts' winter breeding area, swarms develop when rain falls on the sandy soil to initiate the hatching of locust eggs. If conditions are right—plenty of water and vegetation for food—in the locust breeding areas, a large number of the insects hatch and form swarms. In March 2007, locust swarms were sighted in the coastal plains along the Red Sea coast in Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia, said Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in its Desert Locust Bulletin. [ http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/info/info/index.html ] The small swarms were breeding in the lush vegetation left by abundant winter rains. As the vegetation dries, the swarms are likely to move north and inland, warned the FAO. While locusts are not visible from space, the conditions that allow swarms to develop are easy to spot. This image, created from data collected by the SPOT satellite, shows vegetation conditions. Dark green areas indicate that vegetation was more thick and lush in March 2007 than the average March between 1999 and 2006. Brown areas show where vegetation was more sparse than average. Strips of dark green line the shores of the Red Sea in the same areas where locust swarms were spotted. The image also shows that plants are flourishing inland in Sudan, Eritrea, and Saudi Arabia, where the locusts could migrate. Because such satellite images map the conditions in which locust swarms develop, scientists use them as an early warning to identify areas that should be monitored for locust outbreaks. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Locust Swarms in Africa and
…
| Title |
Locust Swarms in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula |
| Description |
Rain falling on the arid soil of the Arabian Peninsula brings a brush of green to the landscape. It also provides the key ingredient in initiating an outbreak of desert locusts. Water signals to locust eggs buried in the sand that it is time to hatch, and the new vegetation provides a source of food for the emerging locusts. As a result, one of the easiest ways to track emerging locust populations is to look for new vegetation in the desert. This satellite image does just that: it is a vegetation index image that reveals the state of vegetation on the Arabian Peninsula. Areas in which plants are more abundant or growing more quickly than average are green, while regions of poorer-than-average plant growth are brown. It is in the green areas, where food and water are abundant, that locust swarms are likely to develop. The data used to create this image were collected between May 21 and May 31, 2007, by the SPOT vegetation satellite. Vegetation on the Arabian Peninsula (where it exists) is mostly average, as indicated by the neutral off-white tone, but streaks of green accentuate the image. Superimposed on the image are the locations where locusts were observed, as reported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Locust Watch [ http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/info/info/index.html ] on June 6, 2007. The most serious outbreak is in Yemen, where a thick swarm of adult locusts (gregarious adults) congregated in a remote, normally arid region. Swarms of juvenile hoppers (gregarious hoppers) have also been spotted in Yemen near the Saudi border, as well as in Saudi Arabia's interior. Solitary adults have a wider range. The desert locust is normally a solitary insect, but when water is plentiful, a large number of eggs hatch. The high population density forces the locusts to become more social, and they form a swarm. Because the desert locust can eat roughly its own weight in vegetation every day, large adult swarms consume nearly all vegetation in a region, and then migrate to another food source. Locust swarms decimate crops, and as a result, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) advises countries in which an outbreak is occurring to take measures, such as aerial spraying, to prevent swarms from developing or migrating. In addition to the outbreak in Yemen, which is the worst since 1993, and Saudi Arabia, locust experts from the FAO warn that heavy rains from Cyclone Gonu [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14295 ] may provide enough water and vegetation for swarms to develop or migrate into Oman and Iran. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Dust Storms over the Middle
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nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Dust plumes lingered over th
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arabia_tmo_2008053
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2008-02-22 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
arabia_tmo_2008053 |
|
Dust over the Persian Gulf:
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
A massive dust plume blew ou
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sarabia_amo_2008109
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2008-04-18 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
sarabia_amo_2008109 |
|
Dust Storm over the Persian
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
A dust storm from the Arabia
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persian_amo_2007048
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-02-17 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
persian_amo_2007048 |
|
Dust Storm over the Red Sea:
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
A dust storm swept over the
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redseadust_amo_2005172
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-06-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
redseadust_amo_2005172 |
|
Dust Blowing over the Red Se
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
An immense dust storm was bl
…
RedSea.AMOA2003172
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-06-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
RedSea.AMOA2003172 |
|
Locust Swarms Develop on the
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Alone, the desert locust is
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eafricapanom_spt_2007080
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center |
| identifier |
eafricapanom_spt_2007080 |
|
East Africa : Image of the D
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
This image shows the East Af
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seawifs_ethiopia
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2000-11-29 |
| creator |
NASA -- Provided by the seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE |
| identifier |
seawifs_ethiopia |
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Dust Storm over the Red Sea:
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
In the summer months in the
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RedSea_TMO2002192
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2002-07-11 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
| identifier |
RedSea_TMO2002192 |
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Dust Blowing over the Red Se
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Thick plumes of tan-colored
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RedSea.TMOA2003181
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-06-30 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
RedSea.TMOA2003181 |
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Locusts on the Arabian Penin
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nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Rain falling on the arid soi
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arabiandvia_spt_2007141
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-05-31 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center |
| identifier |
arabiandvia_spt_2007141 |
|
Dust Storm Over Red Sea: Nat
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
A great cloud of dust and sa
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RedSea.TMOA2003232
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-08-20 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
RedSea.TMOA2003232 |
|
ASTER Dunes
PIA02656
Sol (our sun)
ASTER
| Title |
ASTER Dunes |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image of Saudi Arabia shows a great sea of linear dunes in part of the Rub' al Khali, or the Empty Quarter. Acquired on June 25, 2000, the image covers an area 37 kilometers (23 miles) wide and 28 kilometers (17 miles) long in three bands of the reflected visible and infrared wavelength region. The dunes are yellow due to the presence of iron oxide minerals. The inter-dune area is made up of clays and silt and appears blue due to its high reflectance in band 1. The Rub' al Khali is the world's largest continuous sand desert. It covers about 650,000 square kilometers (250,966 square miles) and lies mainly in southern Saudi Arabia, though it does extend into the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. One of the world's driest areas, it is uninhabited except for the Bedouin nomads who cross it. The first European to travel through the desert was Bertram Thomas in 1930. Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products. Dr. Anne Kahle at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, is the U.S. science team leader, Moshe Pniel of JPL is the project manager. ASTER is the only high-resolution imaging sensor on Terra. The primary goal of the ASTER mission is to obtain high-resolution image data in 14 channels over the entire land surface, as well as black and white stereo images. With revisit time of between 4 and 16 days, ASTER will provide the capability for repeat coverage of changing areas on Earth's surface. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER will provide scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring dynamic conditions and temporal change. Examples of applications include monitoring glacial advances and retreats, potentially active volcanoes, thermal pollution, and coral reef degradation, identifying crop stress, determining cloud morphology and physical properties, evaluating wetlands, mapping surface temperature of soils and geology, and measuring surface heat balance. |
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Wadi Habawnah, Saudi Arabia
| Title |
Wadi Habawnah, Saudi Arabia |
| Description |
These unique weathered volcanic intrusions near Wadi Habawnah, Saudi Arabia (18.0N, 44.0E) are located near Najran, north of the Yemen border. This harsh and rugged desert landscape has been heavily wind eroded and, to a lesser extent, water eroded, as evidenced by the dendritic patterns in this region where rainfall is a seldom occurance. Only a dwindling number of nomadic tribes inhabit this harsh region of few resources. |
| Date Taken |
1985-06-24 |
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