Snow fell on the edge of northwest Africa’s Sahara Desert in mid-December 2016, a rarity for the area.
The Landsat 7 satellite’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor captured the left image of white over a caramel-colored landscape southwest of the Algerian community Ain Sefra, a town sometimes referred to as the gateway to the desert. All of the snow disappeared except at the highest elevations, as shown in the right image captured by Landsat 8. Ain Sefra’s last snowfall occurred in February 1979.
Images taken by Landsat satellites. Source: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Missions Gallery: “Rare Snow Falls at the Edge of Sahara Desert”; U.S. Department of the Interior / USGS and NASA.
Snow fell on the edge of northwest Africa’s Sahara Desert in mid-December 2016, a rarity for the area.
The Landsat 7 satellite’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor captured the left image of white over a caramel-colored landscape southwest of the Algerian community Ain Sefra, a town sometimes referred to as the gateway to the desert. All of the snow disappeared except at the highest elevations, as shown in the right image captured by Landsat 8. Ain Sefra’s last snowfall occurred in February 1979.
Images taken by Landsat satellites. Source: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Missions Gallery: “Rare Snow Falls at the Edge of Sahara Desert”; U.S. Department of the Interior / USGS and NASA.