Images
May 5, 2025 - Thick Dust in Afghanistan
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Winds whipped up desert dust as a frontal system crossed Central Asia in late April 2025, creating a massive dust storm over much of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of the storm on April 29.
In the northernmost section of the image, clouds and some dust hang over extreme southeastern Uzbekistan and southwestern Tajikistan. The thickest dust hangs over relatively low-lying land over and south of the Amu Darya River, primarily in Afghanistan.
The source of the dust appears to come from the west, most likely the Kara Kum Desert which lies primarily in Turkmenistan. Using wider views of the region offered by MODIS imagery in NASA’s Worldview App, some of the dust may even come from the Aral Sea, located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
While the dust storm on April 29, which is captured in this image, appeared to be the most massive, dust continued to move across the region through May 4.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 4/29/2025
Resolutions:
1km (202 KB), 500m (485.7 KB), 250m (279.8 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Winds whipped up desert dust as a frontal system crossed Central Asia in late April 2025, creating a massive dust storm over much of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of the storm on April 29.
In the northernmost section of the image, clouds and some dust hang over extreme southeastern Uzbekistan and southwestern Tajikistan. The thickest dust hangs over relatively low-lying land over and south of the Amu Darya River, primarily in Afghanistan.
The source of the dust appears to come from the west, most likely the Kara Kum Desert which lies primarily in Turkmenistan. Using wider views of the region offered by MODIS imagery in NASA’s Worldview App, some of the dust may even come from the Aral Sea, located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
While the dust storm on April 29, which is captured in this image, appeared to be the most massive, dust continued to move across the region through May 4.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 4/29/2025
Resolutions:
1km (202 KB), 500m (485.7 KB), 250m (279.8 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
