Dust Storm in Northern Afghanistan

Dust Storm in Northern Afghanistan

On June 26, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this image of a dust storm pooling in the mountainous terrain of northern Afghanistan (bottom) and Tajikistan (upper right). The dust has settled onto the snow-capped mountains, giving the snow a dirty appearance. The cloud stretches into Uzbekistan, west of Tajikistan.

The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.

Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC