Dust Storm over the Mediterranean Sea

Southwesterly winds sent a cloud of Saharan dust out of Egypt and across the eastern Mediterranean Sea in March 2014. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image on March 2, 2014. The dust grounded planes and triggered air quality warnings in Israel, according to media reports. In Cyprus, dust levels were five times higher than normal.

• References

• Cyprus Daily (2014, March 4) Sand storm envelops island. Accessed March 5, 2014.
• Haaretz (2014, March 3) Heavy shroud of haze blankets Israel. Accessed March 5, 2014.
• The Jerusalem Post (2014, March 2) Dusty wind storms bring air pollution, shut down Sde Dov Airport. Accessed March 5, 2014.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Adam Voiland.

Instrument: 

Terra - MODIS