Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features dust streaming from the Bodélé Depression, which is located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.

“About 7,000 years ago, the Bodélé Depression was the northernmost part of Lake Megachad, an enormous body of water in north-central Africa that spanned an area larger than all the Great Lakes combined,” says NASA.

“Today, the sandy depression and former lake bed is among the world’s most prolific sources of atmospheric dust. According to one estimate, it generates about half of the mineral dust that leaves the Sahara Desert.”

A natural wind tunnel is created by mountains to the northeast of the Bodélé Depression. According to NASA, dust storms in this region peak in the fall and spring. 

The image was captured on February 15, 2023 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

–—

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Editor

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.