June 4, 2023 - Dust over the Nile River Delta

Dust over Nile
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On June 2, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
a massive cloud of dust stretching across the green Nile River Delta
and the Mediterranean Sea.

The cloud of dust appears impressive from space, but on Earth the
sandstorm proved even more dramatic as a blistering hot and strong
khamsin wind carried a tower orange wall of dust from the Great Sand
Sea northward. News photographers as well as residents captured
heart-stopping photos of the oncoming cloud of dust in Cairo, Egypt and
near the Suez Canal, then published them across various social media
platforms and news outlets.

According to news reports, the vicious winds dropped a large billboard
on a busy road in Cairo, killing at least one person and injuring
others. Trees were toppled and residents were warned to stay inside,
with windows closed. After the frontal edge of the dust storm passed,
light rain followed, carrying some airborne dust to the ground as
blistering temperatures registering about 104˚F (40˚C) cooked the
region.

The khamsin is a hot, dry, dusty wind that blows across North Africa
from the south or southeast in early spring and late winter. It is
created by a center of low pressure moving over the Sahara Desert. The
frontal edge of the khamsin wind carries extremely dry and very hot air
from the desert as well as large amounts dust and sand northward. It
may blow continuously for three or four days, but as it passes it
usually is followed by much cooler air. Satellite imagery showed that
this particular sandstorm affected northern Egypt on June 1-2, but
skies were nearly clear by June 3.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 6/2/2023
Resolutions: 1km (489.6 KB), 500m (1.1 MB), 250m (706.5 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=2023-06-04

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