File:Namib Desert (MODIS 2017-05-02).jpg

English: A swath of soft orange color marks the sands of Namibia’s coastal desert. The Namib Desert is bordered in the north by the Kuiseb River and in the south by the Orange River. Traveling inland from the South Atlantic coast, the desert sands and dunes suddenly give way to the rugged and tall South African Escarpment, which is colored with swaths of pale green vegetation, thanks to the presence of precipitation, which is extremely scant in the Namib Desert.

It is no mistake that this very arid desert sits right next to the moisture-rich ocean. In fact, it is the cool waters of the Benguela Current which flow northward along Africa’s Atlantic Coast that contributes to the formation of the desert. The cold current suppresses rainfall inland but contributes to the morning fog that hangs just offshore. At times the fog creeps inland and offers the only moisture seen in parts of the desert. In some places, the moisture from the fog is reliable enough to permit the growth of sparse vegetation.

On April 28, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured a true-color image of Namibia and the Namib Desert. A long bank of low cloud (fog) sits just offshore while the skies are clear over the orange sands of the Namib as well as most of the South African Escarpment.