21 April 2012
Fig. 1
Dust plumes over Libya
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response.
In mid-April 2012, dust plumes blew off the coast of Libya, over the Gulf of Surt and the Mediterranean Sea. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a natural-color image of this dust activity (Fig. 1), on 16 April 2012.
The largest, densest plume blows northward just east of the coastal city of Benghazi. Smaller plumes drift east of that plume, and small plumes also occur over the Gulf of Surt. There is also a large plume over the sea, to the west of the gulf.
In the spring and autumn, dust storms occur regularly in Libya, where sand seas stretch for hundreds of kilometers, and only about 1 percent of the land is arable. A dust storm may last up to four days. Unlike the dry desert interior, the Libyan coasts enjoy a relatively moist Mediterranean climate where winter rains water vegetation. The difference in land cover is evident in the greenish areas, visible through the dust plumes, east of Benghazi.
References
NASA Earth Observatory
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77675
Wikipedia
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist