Dust continued blowing over Iraq on March 4, 2011. As it blew toward the southeast, the dust also spread over parts of Iran and the Persian Gulf. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image the same day.
The dust plume is thickest over Iran, having been carried eastward from Iraq. Sediments from Iraq’s sand seas, impermanent lakes, and riverbeds frequently give rise to dust storms, many of which can spread southward over the Arabian Peninsula and eastward over Iran.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
