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Haze along the Himalaya Fron
…
| Title |
Haze along the Himalaya Front Range |
| Description |
A river of haze follows the course of the Ganges River in northern India, flowing eastward along the base of the towering, snow-capped Himalaya Mountains (upper right) before turning south over Bangladesh and then spreading out in gray streamers over the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean (lower right). Although the pollution comes from human activities,?agricultural fires, home heating sources that rely on wood, kerosene, or dung, and industrial and vehicle emissions?it lingers because of topography and atmospheric circulation patterns. In the winter phase of the Indian Ocean Monsoon, winds typically blow seaward, which carries the large, thick "brown cloud" of pollution far out over the ocean. Recently, NASA scientists announced that the visible particles of soot that give the polluted air its name aren't the only component of the brown cloud that the atmosphere transports over long distances. The plume also contains ozone, which is beneficial to humans when it is located way above the Earth in the stratosphere, but harmful when it is located closer to the Earth in the troposphere. Ozone spreads even farther away from the original source than the soot particles. Convection over the ocean sucks the ozone high into the air where it enters wider-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. These patterns spread the ozone westward across the Indian Ocean, Africa, and onward to the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, the ozone from the Asian brown cloud gets mixed together with ozone from agricultural fires in Africa, as well as with ozone from the stratosphere which occasionally gets mixed down to lower altitudes. The long-range transport of ozone from these sources explains why such high levels of tropospheric ozone are observed in the air over the South Atlantic Ocean, far from the source of the emissions. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Haze and Sediment in Banglad
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| Title |
Haze and Sediment in Bangladesh and India |
| Description |
On January 27, 2007, haze sprawled from the southern edge of the Himalaya Mountains southward over the Bay of Bengal. In between, it clouded the skies over northern India and Bangladesh. In the south, thick sediment colored the Mouth of the Ganges shades of pale brown and blue-green. Such sediment is a natural occurrence, although land-use changes such as deforestation and agriculture can increase the sediment volume. The haze, mostly a mixture of urban and industrial pollution, often collects at the base of the mountains in the wintertime. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite captured this image on January 27, 2007. In this image, the haze appears thickest in the northwest. It thins toward the south, but haze is still clearly visible over the ocean. The haze appears to follow a distinct path toward the ocean, concentrating over the border between India and western Bangladesh. Farther west in India, and on the east side of Bangladesh, skies appear clear. Along the coastline of India and Bangladesh, the dark green Sundarbans [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundarbans ] mangrove forests stand out from the otherwise brown landscape. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Deadly Floods Sweep Across N
…
| Title |
Deadly Floods Sweep Across Northeastern India |
| Description |
A tropical depression moved in from the Bay of Bengal during the first week of October 2004, pounding Bangladesh and Northeastern India with heavy rain for several days. Starting on October 9, flash floods ran through the foothills of the Himalaya, killing over 150, according to the most recent media reports. The majority of the deaths occurred in the Goalpara Region of the Assam state in northeastern India, shown in the above images. The twisted braids of the Brahmaputra River, the top river, were greatly swollen on October 12 when compared to the river's size on October 2. More astonishing is the flooding observed along the Jamuna River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra. The river has expanded from a thin line, barely visible on October 2 to a massive lake that is more than 125 kilometers in width in places. In both images, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]), water is dark blue and black, clouds are light blue, and vegetation is green. The large images provided above are at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Both the October 12 [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2004286 ] and October 2 [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2004276 ] images are available in additional resolutions and formats, including a true-color view. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Deadly Floods Sweep Across N
…
| Title |
Deadly Floods Sweep Across Northeastern India |
| Description |
A tropical depression moved in from the Bay of Bengal during the first week of October 2004, pounding Bangladesh and Northeastern India with heavy rain for several days. Starting on October 9, flash floods ran through the foothills of the Himalaya, killing over 150, according to the most recent media reports. The majority of the deaths occurred in the Goalpara Region of the Assam state in northeastern India, shown in the above images. The twisted braids of the Brahmaputra River, the top river, were greatly swollen on October 12 when compared to the river's size on October 2. More astonishing is the flooding observed along the Jamuna River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra. The river has expanded from a thin line, barely visible on October 2 to a massive lake that is more than 125 kilometers in width in places. In both images, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]), water is dark blue and black, clouds are light blue, and vegetation is green. The large images provided above are at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Both the October 12 [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2004286 ] and October 2 [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2004276 ] images are available in additional resolutions and formats, including a true-color view. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Monsoon Floods in Northern I
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| Title |
Monsoon Floods in Northern India |
| Description |
The combined impact of a tropical cyclone and monsoon rains drove the many branches of the Ganges River in the Sundarbans delta of eastern India over their banks in late September 2006. The most notably flooded river in the top Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) image, collected by NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on September 26, is the Hugli River, which has spread several kilometers over its flood plain compared to conditions nine days earlier (lower image). The Hugli River [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17410 ] (also Hooghly) branches off the Ganges about 200 kilometers north of Kolkata (Calcutta) and flows south past the city through the state of West Bengal to drain into the Bay of Bengal. Though the city of Kolkata is obscured by clouds in the flood scene (it's the tan region near the bottom of the lower image), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that floods in the city forced more than 2,000 people from their homes. The cloud-free region around the city reveals extensive flooding, with water forming black or dark blue streaks and pools on the bright green, vegetated land. Additional flooding is visible along the Hugli and other branches of the Ganges in the large image. These images were created using both visible and infrared light to allow water to stand out from the land. In these images, clouds are pale blue and white, water is dark blue or black, plant-covered land is green, and bare or sparsely vegetated land (like the city) is tan. Additional infrared images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2006269 ] and photo-like images of India are available from the |
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Monsoon Floods in Northern I
…
| Title |
Monsoon Floods in Northern India |
| Description |
The combined impact of a tropical cyclone and monsoon rains drove the many branches of the Ganges River in the Sundarbans delta of eastern India over their banks in late September 2006. The most notably flooded river in the top Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) image, collected by NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on September 26, is the Hugli River, which has spread several kilometers over its flood plain compared to conditions nine days earlier (lower image). The Hugli River [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17410 ] (also Hooghly) branches off the Ganges about 200 kilometers north of Kolkata (Calcutta) and flows south past the city through the state of West Bengal to drain into the Bay of Bengal. Though the city of Kolkata is obscured by clouds in the flood scene (it's the tan region near the bottom of the lower image), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that floods in the city forced more than 2,000 people from their homes. The cloud-free region around the city reveals extensive flooding, with water forming black or dark blue streaks and pools on the bright green, vegetated land. Additional flooding is visible along the Hugli and other branches of the Ganges in the large image. These images were created using both visible and infrared light to allow water to stand out from the land. In these images, clouds are pale blue and white, water is dark blue or black, plant-covered land is green, and bare or sparsely vegetated land (like the city) is tan. Additional infrared images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2006269 ] and photo-like images of India are available from the |
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Fires in Eastern India
| Title |
Fires in Eastern India |
| Description |
On March 5, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite detected fires (marked in red) in eastern India (bottom left), northeast India (top right), and western Myanmar (bottom right). A few scattered fires were detected in Bangladesh (center). In this false-color image of this scene, dark reddish burn scars stand out against bright green vegetation. A true-color image is also available. In Bangladesh, the Ganges River flows in from the west and meets up with the Brahmaputra River flowing in from the east. The two rivers join and flow out to the Bay of Bengal through the Mouths of the Ganges. At top are the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Eastern India
| Title |
Fires in Eastern India |
| Description |
Smoke hangs over eastern India and the Indian Ocean in this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from the Aqua satellite on March 8, 2003. Dozens of fires were detected by MODIS and are marked with red dots. At upper right, sediments in the waters of the Mouths of the Ganges River color the Bay of Bengal light tan. At far upper right is Bangladesh. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Eastern India
| Title |
Fires in Eastern India |
| Description |
On March 5, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite detected fires (marked in red) in eastern India (bottom left), northeast India (top right), and western Myanmar (bottom right). A few scattered fires were detected in Bangladesh (center). In the false-color image of this scene, dark reddish burn scars stand out against bright green vegetation. In Bangladesh, the Ganges River flows in from the west and meets up with the Brahmaputra River flowing in from the east. The two rivers join and flow out to the Bay of Bengal through the Mouths of the Ganges. At top are the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Southeast Asia
| Title |
Fires in Southeast Asia |
| Description |
The MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of fires burning in Southeast Asia on April 3, 2003. The fires, outlined in red, are spread very heavily throughout eastern Myanmar (center) and are likely agricultural in origin. Fire is often used to clear fields and pasture to prepare for new plant growth, though the smoke from these fires adversely affects local air quality. In this image, winds blow the grayish-blue smoke to the east over neighboring countries and towards the Gulf of Tonking (right edge) and the South China Sea (not visible). Clockwise from top left, the countries shown are India, Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Bangladesh (upper left edge). To the southwest of Myanmar is the Bay of Bengal, due south is the Andaman Sea. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Southeast Asia
| Title |
Fires in Southeast Asia |
| Description |
West of where the myriad channels of the Ganges River flow into the Bay of Bengal, numerous fires were burning in Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar on April 4, 2005. This image of the area on that day was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA?s Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite. Locations where MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined in red. The image, which is centered farther west than previous images in this series, focuses closely on scores of fires burning in India, just across the southeastern border of Bangladesh. In the large version of the image, fires are scattered across a wide portion of all three countries. Many of the fires are emitting large plumes of smoke, which drifts eastward. MODIS cannot tell us specifically whether a fire is naturally occurring or caused by humans. However, the region's monsoonal climate is wrapping up its dry phase, which is typically a time for agricultural burning. In addition, Southeast Asia is experiencing one of its worst droughts in decades, which may be elevating the risk of both accidental and natural wildfires. The fires detected by MODIS, therefore, may be a mixture of both types of burning. The large image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapeidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] provides the image at additional resolutions. [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2005094/FAS_Bangladesh.2005094.aqua ] Image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] NASA-GSFC |
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Flooding in Eastern India
| Title |
Flooding in Eastern India |
| Description |
Abutting the southern front of the snow-clad Himalaya Mountains, the broad, flat Ganges Plain is laced with rivers that transport glacial melt to the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea. Not surprisingly, these rivers lead something of a Dr. Jekyll–Mr. Hyde existence: during the dry winter, the rivers are small and sedate, their headwaters largely locked in ice. In the summer, temperatures in the mountains climb, melting mountain-top snow and fueling the Asian monsoon, and the rivers swell into roaring giants. Not every year is the same however—the monsoon may be wetter in a particular year or winter snows might be greater, leading to more snowmelt—and 2007 numbered among the more extreme flood years. Heavy rain throughout July pushed the Ganges and its many tributaries over their banks, submerging large tracts of land in northeastern India. As of August 3, nearly 20 million people had been displaced in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, and 125 had died in India, reported BBC News. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6927389.stm ] Among the most severely hit states was India's northeastern Bihar state. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image of flooding on the Ganges and its tributaries on August 3, 2007. The lower image, captured by Aqua MODIS on June 4, 2007, shows the plain before the summer monsoon and snowmelt swelled the rivers. In these images (made with a combination of infrared and visible light), water is black or dark blue. Water takes on a brighter shade of blue when tinged with sediment. Clouds, pale blue and white, are scattered over the flooded region, which is bright green with vegetation. Sparsely vegetated areas or bare earth in the lower image are rose-tinted tan. On August 3, the Ganges, Gandak, and Kosi Rivers were so swollen that it was hard to see exactly where the rivers normally flow. The tributaries that feed the Kosi River, not even visible on June 4, have combined in a vast web of water-covered land. The light blue area under the clouds in the lower left corner of the image is probably water-soaked earth, not standing water. Though destructive, seasonal flooding in the Ganges River system blankets the plain with fertile alluvial soil, making it productive farmland. Because the plain is so fertile, it is one of the most densely populated regions on Earth.Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2007215 ] of northeastern India are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System in both false color, as shown here, and photo-like true color. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Deadly Floods Sweep Across N
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
India_AMO_2004286
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2004-10-12 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
India_AMO_2004286 |
|
Fires in Eastern India: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On March 5, 2003, the modis.
…
Bangladesh.AMOA2003064.721
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-03-05 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Bangladesh.AMOA2003064.721 |
|
Fires in Southeast Asia: Nat
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
The MODIS instrument aboard
…
SEAsia.AMOA2003093
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-04-03 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
SEAsia.AMOA2003093 |
|
Fires in Eastern India: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On March 5, 2003, the modis.
…
Bangladesh.AMOA2003064
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-03-05 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Bangladesh.AMOA2003064 |
|
Monsoon Floods Inundate East
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Abutting the southern front
…
Bihar_AMO_2007215
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-08-03 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image courtesy the rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
Bihar_AMO_2007215 |
|
Fires in Eastern India: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Smoke hangs over eastern Ind
…
India.AMOA2003067
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-03-08 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
India.AMOA2003067 |
|
Fires in Southeast Asia: Nat
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
West of where the myriad cha
…
Bangladesh.AMOA2005094
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-04-04 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Bangladesh.AMOA2005094 |
|
Haze over India, Bangladesh,
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Haze lingered along the sout
…
inban_amo_2008010
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2008-01-10 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
inban_amo_2008010 |
|
Haze and Sediment in Banglad
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On January 27, 2007, haze sp
…
himben_amo_2007027
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-01-27 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
himben_amo_2007027 |
|
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