One day after blowing over the borders between Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, a massive dust plume migrated southward. On December 5, 2010, the plume was over the Arabian Sea, headed for the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image the same day.
Typically arid, Pakistan experiences frequent dust storms, and the country holds sand seas that easily give rise to such events. Ironically, as dust blew over the eastern part of the country, areas along the Indus River were still coping with standing water left by the 2010 monsoon floods.
NASA images courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
