Another dust storm struck the border region between Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in mid-September 2010. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this picture on September 13, 2010. The camel-colored dust forms a giant U shape that extends from western Afghanistan into southwestern Pakistan.
Sand seas line the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and impermanent lakes occur along the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Pinpoints of dust appear near the Iranian border, suggested that at least some of the dust arose in that region. The storm could easily have picked up more material over the sand seas in the south. In many places, the dust is thick enough to completely hide the ground surface below. Just north of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, however, translucent dust forms a rippled set of parallel lines.
As dust blew in the west, floodwaters lingered in the east. The lower right corner of this image shows muddy waters that branched off from the Indus River during the 2010 monsoon season.
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NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
