Afghanistan and Turkmenistan exchanged dust in late March 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture of the two countries on March 25, 2009. Two dust plumes appear. The larger plume blows in a counter-clockwise direction from Turkmenistan into northern Afghanistan, just missing Uzbekistan. The smaller plume blows from western Afghanistan northeastward into Turkmenistan. Source points for the smaller plume appear in the lower left corner of the image.
Sand seas cover most of Turkmenistan, providing plentiful material for dust storms. Much of Afghanistan’s land is also arid. In between these dust plumes, however, appears a broad swath of spring-green vegetation, and vegetation extends northeastward into Uzbekistan.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
