Dust and clouds mingled over Utah in late February 2012. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of a dust storm on February 23.

The dust arises from the Great Salt Lake Desert, with sediments that can provide ample material for dust storms. Cloudbanks surround the dust, especially in the south and east. The clouds might result from the same weather pattern that brought dust-stirring high winds.

The low-in-the-sky winter sun casts extraordinarily long shadows in this satellite image of Russia’s Kizimen Volcano. A light-colored plume, likely steam-rich, rises above Kizimen’s summit, while a growing lava flow (mostly hidden by gases) descends the eastern flank. Emissions of ash, lava, and volcanic gases have been nearly continuous since the eruption started in November 2010.

This false-color image was acquired on January 11, 2012, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer aboard the Terra satellite. Snow covers the landscape at high altitudes, and the evergreen forests to the north of the volcano are dark red-brown. The light brown hills nearby are covered with leafless deciduous trees poking above the snow.