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NASA » Australia Dust Storm
Australia's Worst Dust Storm In 70 Years
A NASA satellite image and description published by Earth Observatory in September, 2009.
| NASA satellite image of a dust storm over eastern Australia on September 23, 2009. Image credit NASA / Earth Observatory. |
Satellite Image Description
Eastern Australia was hit with the worst dust storm in over 70 years during late September, 2009. This NASA satellite image shows a wall of dust stretching from northern Queensland to the southern tip of eastern Australia on the morning of September 23, 2009. The dust clouds were so thick that the land beneath them was not visible.
Impact of the Storm
The heavy dust caused airlines to cancel or delay hundreds of flights and motorists had a hard time seeing to drive - it was as bad as a heavy fog but the dust was inhaled by vehicle engines, clogging air filters and causing problems with many cars. The concentration of particles in the air reached 15,000 micrograms per cubic meter in New South Wales - that is about 1000 times higher than normal.
Source of the Dust
Strong winds blew the dust from Australia's interior into more populated regions along the coast. In this image, the dust rises in plumes from point sources and concentrates in a wall along the front of the storm. Some of the point sources are agricultural fields. Others originate in river valleys where fine-grained sediment particles are being picked up by the winds.
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