A dense plume of dust swept from Syria into Iraq on February 22, 2010. This photo-like image of the dust storm was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite in the early afternoon (12:30 p.m. in Syria, 1:30 in Iraq). Distinct plumes rise from many point sources in the Syrian desert. Within a few kilometers, the plumes blend into a dense cloud that completely obscures eastern Syria and western Iraq. The veil of dust is thick enough that the ground beneath was not visible, which means that people on the ground were probably getting significantly reduced daylight.
The large image provided above is the highest resolution version of the image (250 meters per pixel). The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response System.
NASA images courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
