A massive dust storm on December 12, 2003, almost completely obscured large parts of southwest Asia at the time of this image, which was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite. Thick clouds of tan-colored dust wash over Iran (left), Afghanistan (top right), and Pakistan (bottom right). From Iran, the wave of dust is crashing over the Gulf of Oman, which opens into the Arabian Sea (bottom).
The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional spatial resolutions, including MODIS’ maximum resolution of 250 meters.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
