Dust storm in Egypt

A massive dust storm in Egypt obscures the Nile River Valley and Delta in this image acquired on February 8, 2006. Westerly winds are kicking up dust, perhaps from the Qattara Depression, one of the largest sources of dust on the planet.

A series of dry lakebeds are located to the west and northwest of the depression and appear as brown patches. According to Andy Ballantine from the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Institute for Computational Earth System Science. Also the lakebeds in the Qattara Depression, or possibly fine-grained deposits near them, are the likely source of the dust storm; the most concentrated part of the plume seems to be the northern part which would agree with the pattern of lakebeds (assuming they are all emitting dust equally).