Dust from Syria blows along the course of the Euphrates River
into Iraq in this natural-color image from June 18, 2010. The
web of green that surrounds the river is only faintly visible
through the veil of light-colored dust. The dust appears to be
coming from salt pans or dry lakes in northern Syria, west of
the Euphrates River. Visible only in the large, full-resolution
image, the salt pans are lighter in color than the surrounding
desert. Salt pans form in desert regions when water evaporates
from a lake, leaving behind fine silt and minerals. Wind easily
lifts the light, loose silt. Salt pans are among the most
frequent sources of wind-blown dust in the world. Some of the
dust may also be coming from dry areas along the Euphrates
River. Drought decimated the region, shrinking the river in 2008
and 2009. Regardless of good rains in the winter of 2009-2010,
some areas along the river are probably still dry and prone to
dust storms. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on NASA’s Terra sa