In early March 2011, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the progression of a large dust storm which traveled from Iraq to Iran and into the Persian Gulf.
The top image was taken on March 3rd and shows the storm in its early stages as it gathered dust from points along the Iraq-Syria border. The storm currently spans more than 100 kilometres and, as you can see, is thick enough to completely hide the land below.
The bottom image shows the dust storm a day later as it travels east-southeast, blanketing the city of Kuwait and obscuring the coastline of the Persian Gulf.
Source: NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day
