Dust over Russia

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In late April 2012, dust mingled with clouds over the eastern Russian Federation. The dust likely originated along the border between China and Mongolia and followed a counter-clockwise arc into eastern Russia. Fires along the China-Mongolia border may also have deposited smoke into the region’s air.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on April 20, 2012. As MODIS passed overhead, the dust gave a sandy hue to the clouds north of the Russia-China border.

Many of the world’s most prolific dust-producing regions are sandy deserts, but the sparse grasslands of Mongolia also rank among our planet’s most dust-prone regions. Fine sediments from the Gobi Desert often blow eastward into the Beijing region and off the east coast of China. The most severe Gobi Desert dust storms tend to occur in March and April.

References:
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. (2010) Forecasting Dust Storms. (Registration required.) Accessed April 20, 2012.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Michon Scott.

Instrument:
Aqua - MODIS - NASA