Long plumes of Makran Desert sand can be seen blowing southward over the Arabian Sea.
Strong north winds blowing over the Balochistan region of southern Iran and Pakistan on November 13 whipped up huge plumes of sand, which streamed hundreds of miles out over the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman.
The sand came from the Makran, home of an expansive desert that often produces some of the hottest temperatures in the world.
The landscape from which the sand originated is barren and sparsely populated, but does have patches of fertile land exploited for agriculture, along with some rugged mountains.
When NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the region at midday on November 13, it captured the image to the right that clearly shows the sand blowing out to sea.
Some of the densest concentration of the airborne sand can be seen blowing from the Iran-Pakistan border, across the entire width of the Gulf of Oman and falling on the Oman capital of Muscat.
Satellite Image: NASA's MODIS Rapid Response Team