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Geology News
Dust Storm Current Events

“Dust plumes blew off the north coast of Africa and over the eastern Mediterranean Sea in late November 2008. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA

NASA’s Earth Observatory website has a new satellite image of large dust plumes spreading over the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. The image was captured on October 15, 2008 by NASA’s Aqua satellite. Large plumes of dust blow southwestward in this image off the coasts of Iran and Pakistan.

A dust storm on September 12th blew plumes of dust off the coast of Kuwait and Iraq to the southeast and out over the Persian Gulf. The plume was thick enough to hide the water surface below. East of Qatar, a large, thin plumes of dust created a haze over the Gulf.

“In the late 1950s, pilots flying over the Arctic began having trouble seeing long distances, their vision cut short by a mysterious, reddish-brown fog. What they were seeing is now known as

Earth Observatory has an interesting satellite image of dust blown far out over the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Cyprus.

On August 10, 2008, NASA

Large, dry salt lakes are located on the border between Argentina and Chile. Last week strong wind storms blowing across these dry lake beds picked up large quantities of salt dust and carried it across Argentina.

This is one of the more impressive satellite images that shows a dust storm removing massive amounts of dust from a continent. The image from July 4th shows a thick dust cloud blowing off the Sudanese cost and across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia.

Researchers at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies determined that African dust storms may dampen hurricanes by cooling sea surface temperatures. They now propose using a dust storm activity forecast as a tool for predicting the severity of the upcoming hurricane season.

NASA and the University of Arizona have published images of dust devil tracks on Mars. These tracks provide evidence that dust devils the size of Earth tornadoes are commonly found on Mars.

In a new NASA study, researchers taking advantage of improvements in satellite sensor capabilities, offer the first measurement-based estimate of the amount of pollution from East Asian forest fires, urban exhaust, and industrial production that makes its way to western North America. (NASA Image)

Earth Observatory has a satellite image of a dust storm in the Taklimakan Desert. It shows beige plumes near the desert

Earth Observatory has an interesting satellite image of Saharan dust blowing northward over the Mediterranean Sea then turning east and blowing over the Black Sea. It is surprising how the plume stays intact all the way to the Black Sea, even with a direction change.

“A dust storm struck central Mexico on March 18, 2008, and winds transported the dust into southern Texas. Dust from Mexico mixed in the atmosphere with rain showers, raining mud over the city and creating what some described as

A large dust storm in Kuwait has closed the ports and disrupted air traffic.

I am always amazed with how common and how far the dust clouds swept off or Africa and Asia can travel. Earth Observatory has a new MODIS image of three prominent dust plumes and numerous smaller ones over the Red Sea.

NASA satellites provide data suggesting that dust blown from the African Sahara could be responsible for one-third of the drop in North Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperatures between June 2005 and 2006. Satellite images clearly show that amazing amounts of dust are blown off of the African continent.

NASA Image

The dust storms that started in June on Mars have finally started to die down and Rovers Spirit and Opportunity have survived. They are gaining energy and are now driving on to new locations, although their dusty solar panels are operating slower than normal.

Norway Map

Dust from the deserts of the Sahara has been spotted in the air over And

NASA Image

Rovers Spirt and Opportunity are still trying to survive a dust storm on Mars that is blocking their abilty to get enough solar energy to keep warm. Opportunity made its first transmission report in three days. It is getting about 200 watt hours per day of recharge compared to a low of 128. Dust settled on the solar panel is reducing power generation.

NASA Image

The most severe dust storm that the Mars Rovers have experienced has delayed Opportunity’s descent into Opportunity Crater. The rover is shut down during the storm to conserve power. The descent will begin on July 13th or later.

A large Saharan dust plume that departed Africa on June 22, 2007, was observed over the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday and is expected to reach Miami today. This is the first large dust cloud this year to complete the 6,000-mile trip from Africa to Florida. A satellite image of the dust over the Caribbean Sea can be seen at the Earth Observatory website.

NASA Image

A large dust storm can be seen in a recent satellite image posted at Earth Observatory. A strong contrast between the light-colored dust on the western side of the image and the darker soil in front of the storm on the eastern part of the image makes the edge of this storm clearly visible. Be sure to click through to the high resolution version because it shows much more area and detail than the sample image on the Earth Observatory description page.

NASA Image

I always thought that land-derived sediments didn’t make it very far out into a body of water. All of the recent satellite views of dust storms by NASA have certainly been enlightening! Here is an interesting view of a dust storm carrying enough material that it blocks the water from view. One of the greatest strengths of such visual technology is its power to change a person’s mind.