Start Date: End Date: Published Date Data Date
Data acquired June 19, 2011 720 x 480 JPEG
Data acquired June 19, 2011 2800 x 3600 1 MB - JPEG
Data acquired June 19, 2011 2800 x 3600 13 MB - GeoTIFF
Data acquired June 19, 2011 2 KB - KML/KMZ
Dual dust plumes blew southeastward through Iraq on June 19, 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this picture the same day.
Two parallel plumes arise in southeastern Iraq and blow toward the Persian Gulf. The western plume, which blows over the border with Kuwait, has the beige color characteristic of dry lake- or riverbed sediments. The eastern plume is much darker. Some impermanent lakes lie between Qal’at Salih and Suq ash Shuyukh, and some of the sediments in this plume might have arisen in those basins.
This scene includes wetlands, which have received alternating levels of moisture over the past decade.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
Published June 21, 2011 Data acquired June 19, 2011