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Riled Up is a journal of science, the environment, exploration, new technology, and related commentary.  Contributors include scientists, explorers, engineers, and others who provide perspectives and context not typically offered in general news circulation.  For interested readers, additional resources are included.

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A Sand Sea

A Sand Sea

 

Skeleton Coast & the Sand Sea, Namibia (credit: NASA/ISS)

 

The Sand Sea was photographed from the International Space Station (ISS). The vantage point of the space station makes for perfect landscape-scale observations. The spectacular linear and rectangular dunes of the sand-covered region are produced by fierce winds blowing off the South Atlantic Ocean and hitting Namibia's hyper-arid Skeleton Coast.

According to NASA: the Namib Desert is very old and dates from when the cold, desert forming, Benguela Current began flowing ~37 million years ago. The North-oriented dunes have shifted with drier climates and stronger winds, to cover but not remove earlier dunes making rectangular dune networks seen today by the International Space Station.

A small aircraft provides a lower elevation perspective of the stunning dunes along this remote coastline in close-up detail. WHB

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