The above image is from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite. In the image, you can see the dust rising and heading east in plumes. The plumes then gather into the giant wall of dust that ravaged the east coast of Australia.

Australian news sources report that the dust reached concentrations of 15,000 micrograms per cubic meter in New South Wales. Normally, the particle concentration averages somewhere between 10 and 20 micrograms per cubic meter. It's not surprising, then, that this huge storm so greatly affected people.

The storm shut down flights, forced people indoors, and generally mucked things up for most of the morning. By mid-day, however, the sky was clear again and the storm was over. The Big Picture has gathered some pretty awesome images of the storm, which make familiar eastern Australian landmarks look like they've been transported to the surface of Mars.

Dust over Eastern Australia [NASA Earth Observatory]
Dust storm in Australia [The Big Picture]

In this detail from the image, you can see where Baghdad is supposed to be. But the city is entirely obscured by dust. So are most of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Dust storms are not uncommon for the hotter months in Iraq. A recent drought has made the land drier than usual, giving the seasonal summer winds more fuel for violent and dramatic storms like these.

NASA has also provided a short animation showing how the storm developed over a huge area. Now all the middle east needs to fully resemble Dune are giant sand-worms and complex politics. Or maybe just the worms.

Dust Storm over Iraq [NASA Earth Observatory]