On April 26, 2005, winds were whipping up the sands of the Taklimakan Desert in western China. Above the fawn-colored sand, lighter sheets of dust are visible, particularly in the north and east. Blowing dust is a significant sorce of allergy and respiratory distress, not to mention a visibility hazard. Dust from the Taklimakan Desert can spread almost all the way around the world, and it has been found in North America, Greenland, and even atop the French Alps. This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team.
