File:Sahara sand and dust seen by ESA's Envisat.jpg
Original file (4,309 × 4,794 pixels, file size: 9.77 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
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Summary
[edit]DescriptionSahara sand and dust seen by ESA's Envisat.jpg |
English: Envisat captures sand and dust from the Sahara Desert blowing across the Atlantic Ocean along the coasts of Mauritania (top), Senegal (middle) and Guinea Bissau (bottom). The cloud-covered Cape Verde islands are visible off the coast of Senegal.
Sandstorms, or dust storms, are usually the result of atmospheric convection currents, which form when warm, lighter air rises and cold, heavier air sinks. Dust from the Sahara Desert can be transported over thousands of kilometres by convection currents, which also cause other meteorological conditions, such as thunderstorms. Sandstorms are very common over the Sahara, which is a major source of mineral dust, and large concentrations of it can be found in the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean. Saharan dust plays an important role in the Mediterranean region because it is the major source of mineral nutrients for phytoplankton – the basic food on which all other marine life depends. It is not always beneficial, however. In the Caribbean, Saharan dust is believed to infect coral reefs with the sea fan disease. The dust is also thought to be linked to health risks, such as increased incidences of paediatric asthma attacks in the Caribbean and epidemics of lethal meningitis in the semi-arid sub-Saharan territory known as the Sahel belt. This image was acquired on 29 March 2008 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument while working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 metres. |
Date | |
Source | http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2008/04/Sahara_sand_and_dust_seen_by_ESA_s_Envisat |
Author | European Space Agency |
Permission (Reusing this file) |
ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO |
Other versions |
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Title InfoField | Sahara sand and dust seen by ESA's Envisat |
Set InfoField | Earth observation image of the week |
System InfoField | MERIS |
Mission InfoField | Envisat |
Location InfoField | Sahara |
Activity InfoField | Observing the Earth |
Keywords InfoField | Land use; Sand; Storms |
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Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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current | 10:00, 8 March 2017 | 4,309 × 4,794 (9.77 MB) | Revent (talk | contribs) | =={{int:filedesc}}== {{Photograph |photographer = Envisat satellite |title = Sahara sand and dust seen by ESA's Envisat |description = {{en|1=Envisat captures sand and dust from the Sahara Desert blowing across the Atlantic... |
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Metadata
This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.
Horizontal resolution | 72 dpi |
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Vertical resolution | 72 dpi |
Image width | 4,309 px |
Image height | 4,794 px |
Color space | sRGB |
Date and time of digitizing | 17:35, 7 April 2008 |
File change date and time | 17:39, 7 April 2008 |
Date metadata was last modified | 17:39, 7 April 2008 |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh |
- Envisat MERIS images
- Satellite pictures of Sahara dust over the Atlantic
- Space in Images entries from April 2008
- Satellite pictures of the Sahara
- Dust storms in Mauritania
- Dust storms in Senegal
- Dust storms in Guinea-Bissau
- Satellite pictures of Mauritania
- Satellite pictures of Senegal
- Satellite pictures of the Gambia
- Satellite pictures of Guinea-Bissau
- Sahara dust