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Dust clouds over eastern Chi
…
The desert takes to the skie
…
5/9/01
| Date |
5/9/01 |
| Description |
The desert takes to the skies in these images of eastern China from NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR). A hazy summer view from July 9, 2000, (left) compares with a spectacularly dusty spring view from April 7, 2001, (middle). The two images cover an area from central Manchuria near the top to portions of North and South Korea at the bottom. The image on the right is a higher resolution MISR nadir- camera view of a portion of the April 7, 2001, dust cloud. When viewed at full magnification, a number of atmospheric wave features, like the ridges and valleys of a fingerprint, are apparent. These are probably induced by surface topography, which can disturb the wind flow. A few small cumulus clouds are also visible and are casting shadows on the thick lower dust layer. According to the Xinhua News Agency in China, nearly one million tons of Gobi Desert dust blow into Beijing each year. During a similar dust outbreak last year, the Associated Press reported that the visibility in Beijing had been reduced to the point where buildings were barely visible across city streets and airline schedules were significantly disrupted. The dust has also been implicated in adverse health effects such as respiratory discomfort and eye irritation. Asia's desert areas are prone to soil erosion, as underground water tables are lowered by prolonged drought and by industrial and agricultural water use. Heavy winds blowing eastward across the arid and sparsely vegetated surfaces of Mongolia and western China pick up large quantities of yellow dust. Airborne dust clouds from the April 2001 storm blew across the Pacific Ocean and were carried as far as North America. The minerals transported in this manner are believed to provide nutrients for both oceanic and land ecosystems. The left-hand and middle images are from Terra orbits 2,967 and 6,928 respectively. They are approximately 380 kilometers (236 miles) in width. The right-hand image covers an area roughly 250 kilometers (155 miles) wide by 470 kilometers (292 miles) high. Analyses of images such as these constitute one phase of MISR's participation in the Asian-Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment, an international campaign aimed at studying the offshore transport of airborne particles from the Asian continent. More information about this international endeavor is available online at http://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/aceasia/ . MISR, built and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is one of several Earth-observing experiments aboard Terra, launched in December 1999. MISR acquires images of the Earth at nine angles simultaneously, using nine separate cameras pointed forward, downward, and backward along its flight path. More information about MISR is available at http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov . JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team. # # # # # |
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Hazy Skies over Southeast As
…
| Title |
Hazy Skies over Southeast Asia and Southern China |
| Description |
Carbon monoxide hung thickly over the Beijing region for much of March 2006. Although the pollutant was relatively mild over the Korean Peninsula and Bo Hai—the body of water immediately west of the peninsula—carbon monoxide grew thicker to the west. This image is a composite of readings from the Measurements of Pollution in The Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument flying onboard NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. The image shows carbon monoxide concentrations between March 1 and March 26, 2006. Dark blue indicates the lowest carbon monoxide concentrations while red indicates the highest. Many of the populous regions in China show relatively high concentrations, in yellow. Although less intense than the region around Beijing, a large portion of Southeast Asia also shows elevated levels of carbon monoxide, in pale blue-green with small patches of yellow. Smoke from fires [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13444 ] in that region likely contributed to the elevated pollutant. Gray areas show regions where the instrument could not collect data. High-altitude land features, such as the Himalayas, can interfere with MOPITT data collection. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Toronto MOPITT Teams |
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Dust Over Japan
| Title |
Dust Over Japan |
| Description |
Something more than clouds hovered over Japan on April 18, 2006. Dust filled the skies as well. The dust traveled to the island nation from the Gobi Desert. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] flying onboard the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took this picture on April 18. In this image, the eastward-moving, tan dust mingles with white clouds. An especially thick plume of dust heads toward the Korean Peninsula and the island of Japan from the west coast of China. The same day this picture was taken, Japan's Meteorological Agency announced that the dust storm reached Tokyo, the first such weather event in that city in six years. The agency predicted reduced visibility but no health hazards. Research results published in 2005, however, suggested that dust storms may carry bacteria from China to Japan. If the Japanese hoped others could understand the frustrations this dust storm caused, they needed to look no further than Beijing. Spring is the season for Gobi Dust storms, but this storm appeared to be unusually hard on China's citizens. According to news reports, it was the worst in five years, dumping some 300,000 tons of dust on Beijing. It was also the second dust storm to hit that city in a week. According to some reports, Chinese officials planned to seed clouds in hopes of bringing some relief. In 2005, a Nature paper examined China's changing environment. Partially worsened by human actions such as overgrazing and grassland degradation, dust storms began to increase in the 20th century. Between AD 300 and 1949, northwestern China saw a dust storm on average every 31 years. After 1990, the average jumped to one such storm per year. According to news reports, at the time this storm hit, the average rate of dust storms for the Beijing region (in northeastern China) was five or six a year. This storm was the eighth to hit the region in 2006. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC. [ http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Dust Storm over Eastern Chin
…
| Title |
Dust Storm over Eastern China |
| Description |
Alhough spring dust storms are common in eastern China, 2006 surpassed the average year in the frequency and intensity of storms. On May 7, 2006, yet another dust storm swept across the North China Plain and veiled the Bo Hai from view. One reason the dust storms have been so frequent in 2006 is that drought has settled over northern China. Hebei Province and the Yellow River basin, both south of Beijing in the lower left corner of the image, received little rain between February and early May, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service [ http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/highlights/2006/04/china_18apr2006/ ]. Dry soil is easily lifted in the wind, and frequent dust storms have resulted. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this photo-like image of the dust storm on May 7, 2006. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC. [ http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Severe Sandstorm in Northeas
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| Title |
Severe Sandstorm in Northeast China |
| Description |
Visibility across much of northeastern China, including downtown Beijing, was reduced to 500 meters (1,600 feet) as a severe sandstorm swept southeastward out of the Gobi Desert on Wednesday. Residents who had to go outdoors were encouraged to wear masks to protect themselves from the choking effects of the dust and grit. The true-color image above was acquired on March 10, 2004, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra satellite. The sandstorm, in the center of this scene, is the wall of tan to light brown streamers completely obscuring the surface and blowing toward the southeast. Scientists suspect that such sandstorm originate in areas that have been deforested and over-grazed for decades, causing the region to become more arid and exposing the dry, loose soil to the elements. Image by Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory, using data courtesy the MODIS Land Rapid Response Team |
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Smog and Sand over Beijing
| Title |
Smog and Sand over Beijing |
| Description |
During the early part of the year, there is considerable outflow of pollution from China and Southeast Asia. Carbon monoxide is a good tracer of this pollution because it is produced by incomplete combustion processes such as the burning of fossil fuels in urban and industrial areas, the use of biofuels in developing countries, and by biomass burning in the tropics. This false-color image shows the concentrations of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere off the coast of Asia and out over the Pacific Ocean. This image represents a composite of data collected during February 2006 by the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument aboard NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite. The colors represent the amount of carbon monoxide in a column of air, given in molecules per square centimeter. The gray areas show where no data were collected due to persistent cloud cover. Pollution plumes from Asia can be observed in satellite imagery as they spread far out over the Pacific Ocean, and in some instances the plumes reach the western coast of the United States. Over China, industrial emissions are mainly responsible for the high levels of carbon monoxide observed in the image. In Southeast Asia (lower left corner), February and March are months for widespread agricultural burning, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13406 ] and the carbon monoxide over that region may be from the high number of fires. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Univeristy of Toronto MOPITT teams. |
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Smog and Sand over Beijing
| Title |
Smog and Sand over Beijing |
| Description |
Thick smog hung over the Beijing region on April 10, 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] flying onboard the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took this picture the same day. In this image, smog appears as a hazy cloud of grey that obscures the view of the land surface. Immediately east of the smog are white clouds. According to news reports, unrest over pollution was on the rise in China in the spring of 2006. The Chinese government took steps to curb the problem, implementing a five-year economic plan aimed at improved energy efficiency, including a tax on luxury cars with large engines. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC. [ http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Smog and Sand over Beijing
| Title |
Smog and Sand over Beijing |
| Description |
Thick sand from one of China's famed sandstorms clouded the air over Beijing on April 17, 2006. The storm swept east from the border region between China and Mongolia and blanketed cities across China with gritty yellow sand. The storm was the eighth and worst such storm of 2006, reported the BBC. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] flying onboard the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took this picture on the morning of April 17. In this image, a thick band of tan dust obscures the view of the land surface below. Immediately east of the sandstorm are thick clouds, colored tan by the airborne dust. Along the coastlines, brownish sediments from both China and the Korean Peninsula cloud the Yellow Sea. As Terra captured this image, The Korea Times predicted that the storm would strike Korea on the evening of April 17, 2006. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC. [ http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Smog over Beijing, China
| Title |
Smog over Beijing, China |
| Description |
Thick pollution obscured the sky over Beijing and nearby regions on November 4, 2005. According to news reports, [ http://www.terradaily.com/news/pollution-05zr.html ] the city's pollution index reached the highest level on the scale between November 4-5, and residents were warned to spend as little time as possible outdoors. Children, elderly, and those with respiratory conditions were cautioned to be especially careful. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] flying onboard the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image on November 4 as pollutants lingered over the area. In this image, a nearly opaque band of gray smog obscures the view of Beijing and the region to the south. Whiter clouds lie over the smog in the lower portion of the scene, while nearer to the top center of the scene, the haze appears to be hovering above a strip of fog. The rugged mountains that encircle the eastern coastal plain appear to be hemming in the haze, which spreads out in tendrils into the folds of the mountains to the north and west. Various weather conditions can contribute to a pile-up of pollution, including high pressure, high humidity, and large pools of cold air settling near the Earth's surface. Most of the time, atmospheric temperature decreases as altitude increases, and warmer air near the surface rises upward, mixing pollution away. Occasionally, the atmosphere's temperature profile can become inverted, with cold air near the surface and warm air higher up. The cold air is less buoyant, and pollution doesn't disperse. One or more of these meteorological conditions may have played a role in the poor air quality over Beijing at the end of the first week of November. As China industrializes at a record pace, air pollution problems, including acid rain and premature deaths due to respiratory and cardiovascular problems, will continue to be a challenge for the country. According to an article published on October 30, 2005, on NYT.com, acid rain affects 33 percent of China's citizens. And the scientific journal Nature published an article in June 2005 indicating that perhaps as many as 75 percent of China's city dwellers live below the country's acceptable air-quality standard. Second only to the United States in the production of greenhouse gases, China could surpass the United States in the near future as its coal-powered economy continues to grow. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_China4/2005308/FAS_China4.2005308.terra ] of this region. |
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Smog over Beijing, China
| Title |
Smog over Beijing, China |
| Description |
China has one of the world's fastest growing economies. While economic growth increases income and wealth, the associated increase in environmental pollution from the burning of fossil fuel and biofuel is a rising concern. One of the gases emitted during incomplete combustion processes is carbon monoxide (CO). CO has a lifetime on the order of weeks and is therefore a well-suited tracer for pollution. This image shows the total CO column density (in molecules per square centimeter) over China averaged for October 27-to November 7, 2005. High CO levels (indicated in red) are detected over large regions in China. The data were collected by the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument on board the EOS Terra satellite, which has been retrieving CO concentrations in the troposphere since the beginning of 2000. Missing data due to clouds are color-coded in gray. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Toronto MOPITT Teams. |
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Dust over the Yellow Sea: Na
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On May 20, 2008, a strong du
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yellowsea_tmo_2008142
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2008-05-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
yellowsea_tmo_2008142 |
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Beijing: Image of the Day
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
The sprawling, cement-colore
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beijing_ast_2007220
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-08-08 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ASTER Science Team. |
| identifier |
beijing_ast_2007220 |
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Smog over Beijing, China: Na
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
China has one of the world's
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china_MOP_2005300-311
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-11-07 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
china_MOP_2005300-311 |
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Severe Sandstorm in Northeas
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Visibility across much of no
…
aqua_gobi_10mar04
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2004-03-10 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
aqua_gobi_10mar04 |
|
Dust and Sand Sweeps over No
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
The Multi-angle Imaging Spec
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beijingdust_mis_200470
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2004-03-10 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/ MISR Team. Text by Clare Averill (Raytheon/JPL). |
| identifier |
beijingdust_mis_200470 |
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Dust Storm over Eastern Chin
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Alhough spring dust storms a
…
echina_tmo_2006127
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-05-07 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
echina_tmo_2006127 |
|
Smog and Sand over Beijing:
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Thick smog hung over the Bei
…
nechina_tmo_2006100
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-04-10 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
nechina_tmo_2006100 |
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Airborne Sea of Dust over Ch
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Dust covered northern China
…
duststorm_MI032902
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2002-03-24 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/ MISR Team |
| identifier |
duststorm_MI032902 |
|
Hazy Skies over Southeast As
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Carbon monoxide hung thickly
…
seasia_mop_2006085
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-03-26 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
seasia_mop_2006085 |
|
Dust Storm over Eastern Chin
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Thick sand from one of China
…
nechina_tmo_2006107
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-04-17 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
nechina_tmo_2006107 |
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Dust and Sand Sweeps Over No
…
PIA04354
Sol (our sun)
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR
…
| Title |
Dust and Sand Sweeps Over Northeast China |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) captured these views of the dust and sand that swept over northeast China on March 10, 2004. Information on the height of the dust and an indication of the probable dust source region are provided by these images, which include a natural-color snapshot from MISR's nadir camera (left), a stereoscopically-retrieved height field (center) and a map of terrain elevation (right). The dust appears in the natural-color image as the pale brownish ripples that traverse the image from Inner Mongolia toward the southeast, over Beijing, Liaoning and Jilin Provinces. MISR's stereoscopic feature matching algorithm retrieves height above the surface where there is sufficient spatial contrast between several view angles. When the stereo matcher determines that a location is not covered by a feature above the surface, the terrain elevation data are displayed instead. The surface elevation map at right shows that the eastern portion of the image area, Liaonang and Jilin Provinces, is mostly low, flat terrain. These are the areas where the dust appears to be thickest and where the stereo height field indicates that the tops of the dust attain heights of up to about 1500 meters above the surface terrain. Clouds are situated between about 1 and 4 kilometers above the surface. The retrieved heights shown here are uncorrected for wind effects. The square-shaped area near the center of the stereo map is an artifact of the data processing. Areas where height could not be retrieved are shown in dark grey. A decrease in spring vegetation coverage in central and eastern Inner Mongolia has been suggested to be a major contributor to spring dust storms over northern China. http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2004/2003JD003913.shtml The Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. These data products were generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 22481. The panels cover an area of 380 kilometers x 685 kilometers, and utilize data from blocks 54 to 58 within World Reference System-2 path 121. MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. |
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Fingerprints in the Dust
PIA03405
Sol (our sun)
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR
…
| Title |
Fingerprints in the Dust |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
These MISR nadir-camera images of eastern China compare a somewhat hazy summer view from July 9, 2000 (left) with a spectacularly dusty spring view from April 7, 2001 (middle). The left-hand and middle images are from Terra orbits 2967 and 6928, respectively, and extend from central Manchuria near the top to portions of North and South Korea at the bottom. They are approximately 380 kilometers in width. Asia's desert areas are prone to soil erosion, as underground water tables are lowered by prolonged drought and by industrial and agricultural water use. Heavy winds blowing eastward across the arid and sparsely vegetated surfaces of Mongolia and western China pick up large quantities of yellow dust. Airborne dust clouds from the April 2001 storm blew across the Pacific Ocean and were carried as far as North America. The minerals transported in this manner are believed to provide nutrients for both oceanic and land ecosystems. According to the Xinhua News Agency in China, nearly one million tons of Gobi Desert dust blow into Beijing each year. During a similar dust outbreak last year, the Associated Press reported that the visibility in Beijing had been reduced the point where buildings were barely visible across city streets, and airline schedules were significantly disrupted. The dust has also been implicated in adverse health effects such as respiratory discomfort and eye irritation. The image on the right is a higher resolution MISR nadir-camera view of a portion of the April 7, 2001 dust cloud. It covers an area roughly 250 kilometers wide by 470 kilometers high. When viewed at full magnification, a number of atmospheric wave features, like the ridges and valleys of a fingerprint, are apparent. These are probably induced by surface topography, which can disturb the wind flow. A few small cumulus clouds are also visible, and are casting shadows on the thick lower dust layer. Analyses of images such as these constitute one phase of MISR's participation in the Asian-Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment, an international campaign aimed at studying the offshore transport of airborne particles from the Asian continent. For more about this international endeavor, see http://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/aceasia/. MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. |
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