NASA Landsat-7 Image: Saudi Arabia and Yemen

Description: White pinpricks of cloud cast ebony shadows on the Rub' al Khali, or Empty Quarter, near the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The lines of wind-sculpted sand are characteristic of immense sand deserts, or sand seas, and the Rub' al Khali is the largest desert of this type in the world.

A highland ridge is just high enough to disturb the flow of the lines. In the center of that interruption lies the Saudi Arabian town of Sharurah.

Credit: USGS/NASA/Landsat 7

To learn more about the Landsat satellite go to: landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/