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.

On December 30, 2010, a dust storm blew from northern Mexico across the borders of Texas and New Mexico, skirting the cities of El Paso and Juarez. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this picture the same day.

This part of northern Mexico is dotted with dry salt lakes and small sand seas, providing ample material for dust storms. Multiple source points—looking like tiny pinpoints of beige fanning out toward the northeast—appear in the lower left quadrant of the image. Clouds float overhead, casting shadows onto the dust plumes below.

Images & Animations

• Webmaster: Paul Przyborski
• NASA Official: Steven E. Platnick
• Database Updated: June 20, 2013