File:Dust Storm Over Turkmenistan.jpg

• File
• File usage
• Metadata
• Did you know...?

Size of this preview: 640 × 425 pixels.

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below. Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help.

Summary

Description	English: This west-looking astronaut photograph, taken with a short focal length lens from the International Space Station, spans a wide swath of central Asia—from Afghanistan, along the length of Turkmenistan, and beyond to the Caspian Sea. Winds blowing down the largest river valley in the region, the Amudarya, were strong enough to raise a large dust storm. Dust appears as a light brown mass extending into the centre of the image from the lower right. Diffuse dust from prior windy weather appears over much of the area making a regional haze that hides landscape details. The haze partly obscures the irrigated agriculture in Turkmenistan and entirely obscures the Caspian Sea. Numerous rivers rise in the Hindu Kush range (lower left). The Band-i Amir River is a major tributary of the main regional river, the Amudarya, which it reaches via a deep canyon. The Amudarya River was the major historical contributor of water to the Aral Sea, but today extensive diversion of river water for agricultural purposes has led to desiccation of the sea bed. The exposed sea bed is a major source of saline dusts contaminated with agricultural chemicals, and it poses a significant environmental and human health hazard to central Asia. To a lesser extent, dusts are also mobilized from sediments along the Amudarya River channel. The Paropamisus Range and the Amudarya (also known as the Oxus River) are mentioned in histories of Alexander the Great’s famous military expedition from Greece to India. His horsemen are described as having made a fast side excursion from near the Caspian Sea (image top right) as far as the Amudarya (image lower right). ISS Crew Earth Observations: ISS017-E-19616 Identification Mission ISS017 ( Expedition 17) Roll E Frame 19616 Country or Geographic Name Turkmenistan Features AMUDARYA RIVER, HINDU KUSH MTS, DUST STORM Centre Point Latitude 36.0° N Centre Point Longitude 63.4° E Camera Camera Tilt High Oblique Camera Focal Length 28 mm Camera Nikon D2Xs Film 4288 x 2848 pixel CMOS sensor, RGBG imager colour filter. Quality Percentage of Cloud Cover 0-10% Nadir What is Nadir? Date 2008-10-16 Time 10:59:53 Nadir Point Latitude 33.8° N Nadir Point Longitude 72.5° E Nadir to Photo Centre Direction West Sun Azimuth 245° Spacecraft Altitude 188 nautical miles (348 km) Sun Elevation Angle 18° Orbit Number 761
Date	16 October 2008
Source	NASA Earth Observatory
Author	This image was taken by the NASA Expedition 17 crew.

Camera location	42° 35′ 56.80″ N, 59° 16′ 54.60″ E	This and other images at their locations on: Google Maps - Google Earth - OpenStreetMap	( Info)42.599111111111;59.281833333333

Astronaut photograph ISS017-E-19616 was taken with a Nikon D2Xs digital camera fitted with a 28 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Centre.

This image or video was catalogued by Johnson Space Centre of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: ISS017-E-19616. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.

Licensing

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

This file is in the public domain because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)

Warnings: Use of NASA logos, insignia and emblems are restricted per US law 14 CFR 1221. The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/ Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain. Materials based on Hubble Space Telescope data may be copyrighted if they are not explicitly produced by the STScI. See also {{ PD-Hubble}} and {{ Cc-Hubble}}. The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project implies that all materials created by its probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted.

File usage

Metadata

Through Schools Wikipedia, SOS Children has brought learning to children around the world. SOS Childrens Villages is an international children's charity, providing a good home and loving family to thousands of children who have lost their parents. We also work with communities to help vulnerable families stay together and raise children in the best possible environment. Help another child by taking out a sponsorship