Dust Storm over the Persian Gulf

Dust Storm over the Persian Gulf

Dust plumes blew over the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman in early January 2008. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image on January 7. In this image, the dust appears thickest over the Persian Gulf, and a fairly distinct line of small clouds appears along the dust plume’s margin. In the east, over the Gulf of Oman, the dust is thinner, and appears to form wave patterns similar to gravity waves in clouds. In the south, the dust is thick enough to partially, but not completely, obscure the view of the land surface below.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.