--- title: Photo: Dust Storm Covers the Red Sea description: NASA's Aqua satellite has captured this extraordinary image of a huge dust storm billowing out over much of the Red Sea. canonical: https://time.com/4372703/nasa-dust-storm-red-sea/ author: Amanda Calvo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-17T03:28:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:40:27.176Z article:section: Science og:title: See NASA's Spectacular Image of Dust Storm Blanketing the Red Sea og:description: NASA's Aqua satellite captured this extraordinary image og:url: https://time.com/4372703/nasa-dust-storm-red-sea/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb72bbdd579867d61/69889859656a3f2e39bcbf51/dust.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: Dust over the Red Sea og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See NASA's Spectacular Image of Dust Storm Blanketing the Red Sea twitter:description: NASA's Aqua satellite captured this extraordinary image twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb72bbdd579867d61/69889859656a3f2e39bcbf51/dust.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See NASA's Spectacular Image of a Dust Storm Blanketing the Red Sea by [Amanda Calvo](https://time.com/author/amanda-calvo/) ## Amanda Calvo Jun 17, 2016 3:28 AM UTC  Dust over the Red Sea on June 15, 2016. Dust over the Red Sea on June 15, 2016.Jeff Schmaltz—NASA Earth Observatory by [Amanda Calvo](https://time.com/author/amanda-calvo/) ## Amanda Calvo Jun 17, 2016 3:28 AM UTC NASA’s Aqua satellite has [captured](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=88211) this extraordinary image of a huge dust storm billowing out over much of the Red Sea. The plume of airborne dust, caught by the satellite’s on-board Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on Wednesday, appears to be blowing northeast-wards out of Africa across the Red Sea towards Saudi Arabia. Sand or dust storms are not uncommon in this desert region, and NASA [said](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=88211) this one resulted from blustery winds caused by a cold front, which was related to a cyclone near the Persian Gulf. The dust provides an important nutrient supply to the Red Sea and scientists have been studying its cooling effect on the land and atmosphere. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4372703/nasa-dust-storm-red-sea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4372703/nasa-dust-storm-red-sea/"},"headline":"See NASA's Spectacular Image of a Dust Storm Blanketing the Red Sea","datePublished":"2016-06-17T03:28:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:40:27.176Z","description":"The lay of the land was particularly ripe for large gusts of dust","url":"https://time.com/4372703/nasa-dust-storm-red-sea/","keywords":["Environment","NASA","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb72bbdd579867d61/69889859656a3f2e39bcbf51/dust.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda Calvo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/amanda-calvo/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb72bbdd579867d61/69889859656a3f2e39bcbf51/dust.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dust over the Red Sea","caption":"Dust over the Red Sea on June 15, 2016.","creditText":"Jeff Schmaltz—NASA Earth Observatory","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4372703/nasa-dust-storm-red-sea/","name":"See NASA's Spectacular Image of a Dust Storm Blanketing the Red Sea"}}]}] ```