|
|
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. # # # # # |
|
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/ ] |
|
Spring Dust Storms Scour Chi
…
| Title |
Spring Dust Storms Scour China |
| Description |
A river of dust stretched hundreds of kilometers over China on April 28, 2005. The dust storm originated in the Gobi Desert near the border with Mongolia. Blown by powerful winds from Mongolia, the dust crossed the Luliang Mountains, the peaks of which divide the tan cloud that filled the lower valleys, and blanketed the North China Plain, a highly populated region where several large cities, including Beijing, are located. This image of the storm was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA?s Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on the morning of April 28. Such dust storms occur frequently in the spring when winds blow out of the north. The large image provided above has a resolution of 500 meters per pixel. The image is available in additional resolutions, including MODIS? maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
|
Spring Dust Storms Scour Chi
…
| Title |
Spring Dust Storms Scour China |
| Description |
Just as flowering and greening plants, migrating birds, and flooding herald the coming of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, dust storms are a sign of spring in northern China. Cold fronts from Siberia to the north bring strong winds to the deserts of Inner Mongolia. The winds pick up sand and carry it southeast over the densely populated region surrounding the Bo Hai and the Yellow Sea. In the most powerful storms, the dust may be carried all the way across the Pacific Ocean to North America. The storms subside in mid-May when warm air moves up from the southwest. On April 20, 2005, 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 dust over the Yellow Sea. The storm that generated this dense brown cloud of dust covered much of Northern China, including Beijing, with a dusty haze. The dust blew east into Korea, where officials referred to it as the worst dust storm so far this year. The winds are expected to calm on Friday, April 22, 2005. Not all of the brown seen in this image is caused by airborne dust. Near the shores, sediment colors the water of the Yellow Sea. The brown of the sediment fades to green as the dirt is diluted in the sea. The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides the image in additional resolutions. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
|
Dust over Mongolia and China
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Near the end of May 2008, a
…
china_tmo_2008149
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2008-05-28 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
china_tmo_2008149 |
|
Dust and Sand Sweeps over No
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
The Multi-angle Imaging Spec
…
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 |
|
Spring Dust Storms Scour Chi
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Just as flowering and greeni
…
YellowSea_TMO_2005110
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-04-20 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
YellowSea_TMO_2005110 |
|
Spring Dust Storms Scour Chi
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
A river of dust stretched hu
…
China_TMO_2005118
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-04-28 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
China_TMO_2005118 |
|
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 |
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
|
