April 17, 2021 - Dust Storm in Saudi Arabia

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   Dust Storm
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   A massive dust storm covered southwestern Saudi Arabia in mid-April
   2021. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
   board the Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the sandy scene
   on April 15. The cloud of dust appears to stretch more than 1,200
   kilometers (745 mi) from the border with Yemen to the United Arab
   Emirates and to Oman. The airborne shifting sand is so thick that, for
   hundreds of miles, it obscures the land below.

   This storm sits over the Empty Quarter, or Rub’ al Khali, a rich sand
   sea stretching over parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United
   Arab Emirates. Considered “empty” because so few humans inhabit it,
   this desert contains half as much sand as the entire Sahara Desert and
   is one of the major sources for dust storms on the Arabian Peninsula.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Aqua
   Date Acquired: 4/15/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (294 KB),  500m (772 KB),  250m (2 MB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-04-17
 
