Dust Storms in Kerman Desert and Qatar

High-resolution image (761 Kb)
High-resolution image (756 Kb)

As seen in the top image, a major dust storm rages in the Kerman Desert, just east of the city of Bam in southeastern Iran. Image acquired by the crew of the International Space Station using a digital camera with a 50 mm lens.

Depicted in the bottom image, a massive sandstorm sweeps over the Persian Gulf state of Qatar as it races southward toward southeastern Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A major upper level low pressure over southwestern Asia led to a series of storms sweeping through the area. The crew of the International Space Station acquired this image with a digital camera using a 50 mm lens.

Astronaut photographs ISS008-E-16328 and ISS008-E-16355 were provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.