Dust in the Sahara Desert • Earth.com Dust in the Sahara Desert

Dust in the Sahara Desert Orange-tan veils of dust sweep across the Sahara Desert in northwestern Africa in this true-color Aqua MODIS image acquired July 18, 2005. The dust curls through northern Mali and southern Algeria in this image, obscuring the dramatic geography of the land below.

Little to no vegetation grows in this region, and what little does is mostly shrubbery that supports only nomadic herding. Farther south, where precipitation is more regular, peanuts are a popular crop in the grass savannas. Therefore are but here the precipitation and population are so low that a stationary, agricultural lifestyle isn’t possible.

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