Another dust storm blew out of the Taklimakan Desert on April 16, 2007. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture the same day.
This picture shows the western edge of the Taklimakan Desert and the Tien Shan Mountains to the north. Plumes of dust blow northward from the southwestern edge of the desert basin. The dust appears as a beige smudge running up the center of the image. Near the mountains, thin clouds obscure the view of the northern rim of the desert. Brighter and clearer than the clouds are the patches of snow cover on the mountain range.
The Taklimakan Desert sits between the Tien Shan Mountains in the north and Kunlun Mountains in the south. This desert is one of Earth’s largest shifting-sand deserts, and it contains heavy concentrations of salt as it has no drainage. Its plentiful sand makes this desert is a regular source of Asian dust storms.
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NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.
