Dust plumes blew off the coasts of Iran and Pakistan and over the Arabian Sea on January 4, 2007. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image the same day. Here, the dust plumes appear as pale beige wisps. One apparent source for the dust can be seen in Pakistan, perhaps 150 kilometers inland from the coast. South of the dust plumes, white clouds dot the sky. Aside from bands of greenish blue—resulting from shallow water and/or sediment—along the coast, the ocean appears dark blue.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center

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