Ribbons of Dust Swirl Across Baja

by | Jan 9, 2012

Strong winds across Baja California blow dust over the Pacific Ocean, fertilizing the water with nutrients that promote phytoplankton blooms.

The natural-color images required to make this oblique view were acquired on Nov. 27, 2011, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite. The Ocean Color Team at NASA Goddard processes images like this to help assess the presence of sediment and plankton in the sea.

Dust storms interfere with that processing, as the sandy aerosols block much of the incoming sunlight and the outgoing, reflected light. Dust storms can disturb human activity on land, but once they blow out over the Gulf of California and Pacific Ocean, they help fertilize the waters with nutrients that promote phytoplankton blooms. In winter, the waters around Baja are often full of whales, as the largest creatures in the sea often eat the smallest plankton.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin put the storm to practical use. They are working to calibrate measurements on two instruments on the GOES weather satellites, and the dust storm provided a nice event for comparison.

Source: NASA

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