September 14, 2020 - Libya

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   Libya
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   Located in North Africa, Libya enjoys a long strip of coastline along
   the Mediterranean Sea while the interior is dominated by arid seas of
   sand and dry Saharan Desert. According to the CIA World Factbook, over
   90 percent of Libya’s population lives along the Mediterranean coast,
   while over 90 percent of the country is desert or semi-desert.

   On September 10, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging
   Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a
   true-color image of southwestern Libya.

   Two large, orange-colored sand seas are separated by a long outcrop of
   sandstone. The Erg Ubari sits in the northwestern corner, while the Erg
   Murzuq glows orange in the southwestern section. The deep orange area
   in the northwestern part of Erg Murzuq are tall sand dunes. It is
   easiest to the distinct ripples that mark these large dunes in the 250
   km resolution image. The circular, dark brown area to the northeast of
   the sand seas marks the Haruj volcanic field. Created at a time when
   volcanic eruptions regularly sent lava spilling across the landscape,
   the dark basalt layers spread across a 17,000-square-mile
   (45,000-square-kilometer) plateau and stand out in sharp contrast to
   the orange sand seas and the tan pebbles and rocky terrain nearby.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 9/10/2020
   Resolutions:  1km (118.8 KB),  500m (284.2 KB),  250m (513.4
   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=2020-09-14
 
