Two days after forming over Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, a dust storm spread southward over the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on June 29, 2008.
In this natural-color image, pale beige dust plumes appear along the border between Iran and Afghanistan and in northern Pakistan. More diffuse dust appears over the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Dust plumes blow off the coast of Pakistan in a counter-clockwise direction.
Clear skies over much of Iran allow a view of the Dasht-e Lut Desert. The desert sports contrasting landforms, including parallel lines carved by wind in the west, and red-brown sand dunes in the east.
NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
