File:Dust Storm Over Turkmenistan.jpg

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 center 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
Center Point Latitude	36.0° N
Center 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 color 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 Center 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′ 56.8″ N, 59° 16′ 54.6″ E	View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap	42.599111; 59.281833

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 Center 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.

Other languages:

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Licensing

	This file is in the public domain in the United States 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 is restricted per U.S. 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.[1] 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. [2] Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted. [3] The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) site has been known to host copyrighted content. Its photo gallery FAQ states that all of the images in the photo gallery are in the public domain "Unless otherwise noted."

	Date/Time	Thumbnail	Dimensions	User	Comment
current	09:39, 18 January 2011		3,072 × 2,039 (911 KB)	Originalwana	higher res
	14:56, 26 April 2009		1,440 × 960 (597 KB)	Originalwana	{{Information \|Description={{en\|1=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

Camera manufacturer	NIKON CORPORATION
Camera model	NIKON D2Xs
Exposure time	1/1,000 sec (0.001)
F-number	f/3.5
ISO speed rating	100
Date and time of data generation	10:59, 16 October 2008
Lens focal length	28 mm
User comments	NASA 1108 79.2F
Orientation	Normal
Horizontal resolution	300 dpi
Vertical resolution	300 dpi
Software used	Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000
File change date and time	09:38, 18 January 2011
Exposure Program	Shutter priority
Exif version	2.21
Date and time of digitizing	10:59, 16 October 2008
Shutter speed	9.965784
APEX aperture	3.61471
Exposure bias	0
Maximum land aperture	3 APEX (f/2.83)
Metering mode	Pattern
Light source	Unknown
Flash	Flash did not fire
DateTime subseconds	49
DateTimeOriginal subseconds	49
DateTimeDigitized subseconds	49
Color space	sRGB
Sensing method	One-chip color area sensor
File source	Digital still camera
Scene type	A directly photographed image
Custom image processing	Normal process
Exposure mode	Auto exposure
White balance	Auto white balance
Digital zoom ratio	1
Focal length in 35 mm film	42 mm
Scene capture type	Standard
Scene control	None
Contrast	Soft
Saturation	Normal
Sharpness	Normal
Subject distance range	Unknown

File:Dust Storm Over Turkmenistan.jpg

Summary

Licensing

Captions

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

significant event

Expedition 17

copyright status

public domain

inception

16 October 2008

captured with

Nikon D2Xs

coordinates of the point of view

42°35'56.800"N, 59°16'54.599"E

catalog code

ISS017-E-19616

File history

File usage

Global file usage

Metadata