Sandstorm moves across Arabian peninsula

A dense wall of dust barreled across the Arabian Peninsula on March 26 – 27, 2011. The massive storm stretches more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) across the peninsula, covering parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
This pair of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) shows the storm’s progression in a 22-hour period. The MODIS sensor on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the top image on March 26, and MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the bottom image on March 27.
On March 26, the storm stops short of Oman and Yemen, and the opaque mass of dust is bordered by crystal-clear skies to the south. Some plumes blow across the Persian Gulf toward Iran. The following day, the dust has moved southward, and is especially thick over Yemen.
According to local news reports, the storm started in the late afternoon on March 25 in Iraq and Kuwait. The fast-moving storm dropped visibility to near zero, cloaking Kuwait in premature darkness. The dust storm shut down the airport in Kuwait and disrupted traffic across the Arabian Peninsula.
Intense northwest winds called shamal winds drove the fast-moving storm. They blow in from the northwest with the passing of a storm with a strong cold front, which is the leading edge of a mass of cold air. In this case, the cold front was over Iraq. It brought winds greater than 50 kilometers per hour (30 miles per hour) to Kuwait and slightly weaker winds to the rest of the region.
The winds picked up dust and sand from Iraq and Kuwait and blew it across the peninsula. The storm may have also picked up material over the Empty Quarter (Rub’ al Khali). An incredibly rich sand sea, the Empty Quarter contains about half as much sand as the Sahara Desert. (EarthObservatory)
If you value what we do here, create your ad-free account and support our journalism.
Related articles
Your support makes a difference
Dear valued reader,
We hope that our website has been a valuable resource for you.
The reality is that it takes a lot of time, effort, and resources to maintain and grow this website. We rely on the support of readers like you to keep providing high-quality content.
If you have found our website to be helpful, please consider making a contribution to help us continue to bring you the information you need. Your support means the world to us and helps us to keep doing what we love.
Support us by choosing your support level – Silver, Gold or Platinum. Other support options include Patreon pledges and sending us a one-off payment using PayPal.
Thank you for your consideration. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Teo Blašković
Commenting rules and guidelines
We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules:
We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these rules. By commenting on our website, you agree to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for helping to create a positive and welcoming environment for all.