A dust storm swept through the Tengger Desert in north-central China on February 12, 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard the Aqua satellite took this picture the same day. In this image, the dust storm appears as a pale beige swath spreading from the southeast toward the northwest.
The Tengger Desert is an inland drainage basin far from any ocean. It sees little precipitation, but it does see extreme temperature variations throughout the year—common ingredients for dust storms.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
