August 3, 2022 - Dust Plume over the Gulf of Aden

Dust plume
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A thick plume of dust blew off the Horn of Africa and over the blue
waters of the Gulf of Aden in early August 2022. The Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua
satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene on August 1.

A wide, thick plume rises from an arid, dust-filled region near
Somalia’s coast to stretch more than 250 miles (402 km) over the Gulf.
Two smaller plumes appear to arise from point-sources in Djibouti, to
the northwest of the largest plume.

Because much of the Horn of Africa is extremely arid, dust storms are
one of the most common natural hazards. Somalia has been suffering from
long-standing drought, which increases desertification and creates
conditions ripe for more frequent sandstorm. It also worsens a
humanitarian crisis in that country brought about by drought and
conflict.

A Situation Report written by the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and published on ReliefWeb
on July 7, 2022, states, “Drought conditions have deteriorated in
Somalia following an unprecedented fourth consecutive failed rainy
season; eight areas - up from six in May- are facing the risk of
famine. More than 7 million people are affected, up from 6.1 million in
May, and over 805,000 are displaced. For the first time since 2017,
pockets of catastrophic food insecurity have been confirmed, affecting
more than 213,000 people. At least 200 children have died in
malnutrition centres since January.”

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/1/2022
Resolutions: 1km (351.6 KB), 500m (874.5 KB), 250m (591.2
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=2022-08-03

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