On February 20, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of dust streaming across eastern Iraq and western Iran. There is some evidence that dust storms driven by northwest (Shamal) winds have become more common in this region during the past decade due to a long-term drought that has parched key wetlands.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.
