Dust Plumes Shroud The Arabian Sea

Dust plumes this week blew off the coast of Oman and over the Arabian Sea. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites captured these natural-color images on the morning (top) and afternoon (bottom) of February 4. In the roughly three hours separating these images, the dust plumes lengthened and shifted southward.

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Dust drifts over the Arabian Sea

By January 13, 2013, the dust storm that originally arose in northern Iran had spread over the Arabian Sea. A veil of dust extended southward past Oman, and eastward to the coast of India. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image on January 13. 

Over most of the area pictured here, the dust was translucent, but off the coast of Oman, a swirl of dust was thick enough to completely hide the water surface below.

Dust plumes initially arose from discrete source points in northern Iran, and the storm likely picked up additional particles as it spread. Over the course of three days, the dust storm traveled roughly 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) to the south-southwest. Over the Arabian Sea, the leading edge of the dust storm spanned about 1,200 kilometers (700 miles).

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Michon Scott.

Instrument: Aqua - MODIS

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Tropical Storm Affects Arabian Peninsula

Tropical Storm Keila brought strong winds and heavy rains to the Arabian Peninsula at the beginning of November 2011. Times of Oman described flooded roads, parked vehicles swept away by water, and emergency evacuations of hospitals. On November 3, OneOman reported 14 deaths and at least 200 injuries from the storm.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on November 1. The center of the storm hovers just off the coastlines of Yemen and Oman, and storm clouds stretch hundreds of kilometers inland.

Observations by another NASA satellite, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) indicated heavy rainfall resulting from Tropical Storm Keila. On November 3, the TRMM team reported that thunderstorms spawned by Keila produced about 5 centimeters (2 inches) of rain per hour off the coast of Oman.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott. Instrument: Terra - MODIS

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