A catalog of NASA images and animations of our home planet

• Credit:

  NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.

Dust blew northward from Argentina’s Laguna Mar Chiquita in early July 2010. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on July 7, 2010. Multiple off-white plumes blow from the lake shores toward the north-northwest. Large plumes blow from the lake’s northern perimeter, especially at the eastern end. A small plume, however, blows from sediments on the lake’s southern shore. East of the lake, small plumes of dust or possibly smoke also blow toward the north-northwest.

Laguna Mar Chiquita is a saline lake in north-central Argentina, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of Cordoba. Covering nearly 2,000 square kilometers (775 square miles), the lake often gives rise to dust plumes, especially when the lake’s water level recedes.

1. References

2. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2010). Lake Mar Chiquita. Accessed July 9, 2010.

Images & Animations

• Webmaster: Paul Przyborski
• NASA Official: Steven E. Platnick
• Database Updated: May 21, 2013