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Images of Bay of Bengal and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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Himalayas Exaggerated (Draft
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| Title |
Himalayas Exaggerated (Draft) |
| Abstract |
Satellite photographs (from Terra-MODIS) and computer-generated models help visualize Bangladesh's place in the world. Located in South Asia, it is virtually surrounded by India and the Bay of Bengal to the south. But in many ways, the country's fate is dominated by the world's highest mountain range looming to the north-the Himalayas. |
| Completed |
2002-01-23 |
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Himalayas Exaggerated (Draft
…
| Title |
Himalayas Exaggerated (Draft) |
| Abstract |
Satellite photographs (from Terra-MODIS) and computer-generated models help visualize Bangladesh's place in the world. Located in South Asia, it is virtually surrounded by India and the Bay of Bengal to the south. But in many ways, the country's fate is dominated by the world's highest mountain range looming to the north-the Himalayas. |
| Completed |
2002-01-23 |
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Himalayas Exaggerated (versi
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| Title |
Himalayas Exaggerated (version 2.2) |
| Abstract |
Satellite photographs (from Terra-MODIS) and computer-generated models help visualize Bangladesh's place in the world. Located in South Asia, it is virtually surrounded by India and the Bay of Bengal to the south. But in many ways, the country's fate is dominated by the world's highest mountain range looming to the north-the Himalayas. |
| Completed |
2002-04-18 |
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Himalayas Exaggerated (versi
…
| Title |
Himalayas Exaggerated (version 2.2) |
| Abstract |
Satellite photographs (from Terra-MODIS) and computer-generated models help visualize Bangladesh's place in the world. Located in South Asia, it is virtually surrounded by India and the Bay of Bengal to the south. But in many ways, the country's fate is dominated by the world's highest mountain range looming to the north-the Himalayas. |
| Completed |
2002-04-18 |
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The Bay of Bengal from SeaWi
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| Title |
The Bay of Bengal from SeaWiFS |
| Completed |
2000-03-01 |
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Agricultural Fires in Northe
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| Title |
Agricultural Fires in Northern India |
| Description |
Smoke from agricultural fires in northern India continues to back up against the Himalaya Mountains on November 6, 2003. This image shows a river of haze stretching all the way from the Indus River valley (top left) eastward to where the Ganges River empties into the Bay of Bengal (right center edge). At top, the skies over the Tibetan Plateau are clear. This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Floods in Southern India
| Title |
Floods in Southern India |
| Description |
Days of persistent rain caused widespread flooding in Southern India's Tamil Nadu state in late November 2005. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured these two images, which contrast conditions before the floods on November 18, lower image, and during the floods on November 27, top. The images are shown in false color to make water easier to see. In this color combination, water is dark blue or black, plant-covered land is green, clouds are pale blue and white, and bare earth is tan. The images focus on the mouth of the Kollidam River, though the floods extend over a much larger region. Swollen with water, the river and other streams emptying into the Bay of Bengal spread across a wide section of the coast. This same section of coast was also impacted by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. According to the United Nations Development Program, well over 2 million people have been affected by flooding in Tamil Nadu. The floods have disrupted transportation and destroyed crops across the state. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images of India in a variety of resolutions. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Haze along the Himalaya
| Title |
Haze along the Himalaya |
| Description |
A pale gray ribbon of haze snakes along the front of the Himalaya Mountains in northern India in this photo-like image, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on December 16, 2006. The haze travels east along the path of the Ganges River and pours out over the Bay of Bengal. Atmospheric pressure combined with geology often trap haze at the base of the Himalaya Mountains. India's rapid industrialization has clearly played a role in producing so much haze. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [ http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0609584104v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=india+rice&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT ] in December 2006, the pollution dims incoming sunlight and reduces rainfall, both of which reduce India's rice harvest. You can also download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Dec2006/nindia_tmo_2006350.kmz ] of the haze along the front of the Himalaya for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Haze along the Himalaya
| Title |
Haze along the Himalaya |
| Description |
Thick haze clouded the skies over Pakistan on December 20, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image. Several of Pakistan's largest cities, including Lahore and Islamabad, are sandwiched between the Indus River and the Indian border in the area shown in this image. Cars burning low-quality fuel pump out pollutants in these densely populated regions, making air pollution a serious problem, reports the Energy Information Administration, [ http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Pakistan/Environment.html ] a part of the United States Department of Energy. As this image shows, geography compounds the problem. Grey, pollution-laden air concentrates at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains. This polluted air will eventually blow east over India and dissipate over the Bay of Bengal. For daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India1 ] of Pakistan, please visit the MODIS Rapid Response web site. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Haze along the Himalaya Fron
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| Title |
Haze along the Himalaya Front Range |
| Description |
What may be a mixture of haze and dust is spread out in a band at the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains in northern India (occupying most of the scene) and Pakistan (at upper left) and in a second swath in the center of the scene. The haze stretches out over the Mouths of the Ganges River (right center edge) and the Bay of Bengal to the south. Beyond the high peaks of the Himalaya (top), skies are clear over the Tibetan Plateau. This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite on November 15, 2004. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Haze along the Himalaya Fron
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| 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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Cyclone Mala
| Title |
Cyclone Mala |
| Description |
Tropical Cyclone Mala formed in the Bay of Bengal on April 24, 2006. The cyclone has been gradually building strength and size. As of April 26, it was projected to head towards Myanmar, possibly coming ashore there on or around April 29, after grazing along the Andaman Islands. It was not projected to become a particularly powerful storm before reaching the mainland. This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on April 26, 2006, at 10:35 a.m. local time (04:35 UTC). Cyclone Mala at this time had a basic rounded form, but lacked the well-developed eye, tight-wound shape, and strong winds of a powerful storm. Sustained, peak winds in the storm system were roughly 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) around the time the image was captured. NASA image by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from theGoddard Earth Sciences DAAC. [ http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Cyclone Mala
| Title |
Cyclone Mala |
| Description |
Tropical Cyclone Mala formed in the Bay of Bengal on April 24, 2006. The cyclone has been gradually building strength and size. As of April 28, it was heading towards Myanmar, possibly coming ashore there on or around April 29. This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on April 28, 2006, at 10:05 a.m. local time (04:05 UTC). Cyclone Mala was quite transformed from two days prior. At the time of this image, the storm had the well-developed eye, tight-wound shape, and strong winds of a powerful storm. Sustained, peak winds in the storm system were roughly 210 kilometers per hour (130 miles per hour) around the time the image was captured. The high-resolution image provided above is provided at the full MODIS spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2006118-0428/Mala.A2006118.0425 ] 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
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| 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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Haze over Southwestern India
| Title |
Haze over Southwestern India |
| Description |
A plume of haze descended over Mumbai, India, on December 2, 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] flying onboard NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took this picture the same day. In this image, the haze appears as a translucent band, slightly darker than the wispy clouds to the northwest. Underneath the haze, a greenish plume of sediment appears in the ocean off the coast of India. Although the origin of the plume was not clear from adjacent satellite imagery, it could have originated in India itself. Aerosolsminute particles suspended in the atmospherecan sometimes move in a gyre around India, following the path of the Ganges toward the Bay of Bengal, circling around the southern tip of the subcontinent, then re-approaching the country from the Arabian Sea. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the Level 1 and Atmospheric Archive Distribution System. [ http://ladsweb.nascom.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Monsoon Flooding in India
| Title |
Monsoon Flooding in India |
| Description |
Though water levels have started to drop, the Krishna River was still swollen far beyond its banks on August 12, 2005, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. The river is overflowing after record-setting monsoon rains fell in western India during July and early August. The water is now draining into the Krishna through its tributaries so that, even though the western floods have lifted, the river is still running high. The false-color images show the eastern reaches of the Krishna River as it flows through Andhra Pradesh. In these images, water is dark blue. The river, tainted with muddy flood water, is lighter blue than the clearer water of the Bay of Bengal, seen in the lower right corner. Clouds are light blue, vegetation is bright green, and bare land is tan. In addition to showing floods, the images show the positive effect of the monsoon rains. In between June 15, when the lower image was taken, and August 12, the landscape had gone from a barren tan to widespread green. The large images provided above show the full extent of the river, though clouds still cover much of the western half of the river. The large images have a resolution of 500 meters per pixel and were created by the MODIS Rapid Response Team, which provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India4/2005224 ] of India at a variety of resolutions, including MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Monsoon Flooding in India
| Title |
Monsoon Flooding in India |
| Description |
Though water levels have started to drop, the Krishna River was still swollen far beyond its banks on August 12, 2005, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. The river is overflowing after record-setting monsoon rains fell in western India during July and early August. The water is now draining into the Krishna through its tributaries so that, even though the western floods have lifted, the river is still running high. The false-color images show the eastern reaches of the Krishna River as it flows through Andhra Pradesh. In these images, water is dark blue. The river, tainted with muddy flood water, is lighter blue than the clearer water of the Bay of Bengal, seen in the lower right corner. Clouds are light blue, vegetation is bright green, and bare land is tan. In addition to showing floods, the images show the positive effect of the monsoon rains. In between June 15, when the lower image was taken, and August 12, the landscape had gone from a barren tan to widespread green. The large images provided above show the full extent of the river, though clouds still cover much of the western half of the river. The large images have a resolution of 500 meters per pixel and were created by the MODIS Rapid Response Team, which provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India4/2005224 ] of India at a variety of resolutions, including MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Monsoon Floods in India
| Title |
Monsoon Floods in India |
| Description |
The Mahanadi River was flowing over its banks on September 1, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. The river, one of the longest in India, ordinarily meanders across a fertile plain to drain into the Bay of Bengal through a broad delta, but starting in early August, heavy monsoon rains pounded the river basin, causing widespread flooding. Floods were already impacting the region on August 7, when the lower image was taken. Nearly a month later, the Mahanadi ran high and wide, the flood erasing the meandering curves seen on August 7. The water had gone from dark blue to pale blue, a sign that mud-laden run-off filled the river. Clouds of light blue sediment pour into Chilka Lake (lower left corner) and the Bay of Bengal from the flooded river. By September 3, floods along the Mahanadi had displaced more than two million people, reported the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2006sum.htm ] These images were created with infrared light to create more contrast between water and land. In this type of image, water is black or dark blue, but appears lighter when it is clouded with sediment. Plant-covered land is bright green, while barren or sparsely vegetated land is tan. Clouds are turquoise blue and white. A photo-like, true-color version [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2006244 ] of these images is available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. 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 Mahanadi River was flowing over its banks on September 1, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. The river, one of the longest in India, ordinarily meanders across a fertile plain to drain into the Bay of Bengal through a broad delta, but starting in early August, heavy monsoon rains pounded the river basin, causing widespread flooding. Floods were already impacting the region on August 7, when the lower image was taken. Nearly a month later, the Mahanadi ran high and wide, the flood erasing the meandering curves seen on August 7. The water had gone from dark blue to pale blue, a sign that mud-laden run-off filled the river. Clouds of light blue sediment pour into Chilka Lake (lower left corner) and the Bay of Bengal from the flooded river. By September 3, floods along the Mahanadi had displaced more than two million people, reported the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2006sum.htm ] These images were created with infrared light to create more contrast between water and land. In this type of image, water is black or dark blue, but appears lighter when it is clouded with sediment. Plant-covered land is bright green, while barren or sparsely vegetated land is tan. Clouds are turquoise blue and white. A photo-like, true-color version [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2006244 ] of these images is available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. 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
…
| Title |
Monsoon Floods in Northern India |
| Description |
The Mahanadi River was flowing over its banks on September 1, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. The river, one of the longest in India, ordinarily meanders across a fertile plain to drain into the Bay of Bengal through a broad delta, but starting in early August, heavy monsoon rains pounded the river basin, causing widespread flooding. Floods were already impacting the region on August 7, when the lower image was taken. Nearly a month later, the Mahanadi ran high and wide, the flood erasing the meandering curves seen on August 7. The water had gone from dark blue to pale blue, a sign that mud-laden run-off filled the river. Clouds of light blue sediment pour into Chilka Lake (lower left corner) and the Bay of Bengal from the flooded river. By September 3, floods along the Mahanadi had displaced more than two million people, reported the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2006sum.htm ] These images were created with infrared light to create more contrast between water and land. In this type of image, water is black or dark blue, but appears lighter when it is clouded with sediment. Plant-covered land is bright green, while barren or sparsely vegetated land is tan. Clouds are turquoise blue and white. A photo-like, true-color version [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2006244 ] of these images is available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. 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
…
| 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 6, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite detected scores of smoky fires (red dots) burning in eastern India south of the Ganges River (upper right). Smoke is wafting out over the Bay of Bengal (right). 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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Smog over the Bay of Bengal
| Title |
Smog over the Bay of Bengal |
| Description |
Against the arcing backdrop of the Himalaya Mountains (top of image), rivers of grayish haze follow the courses of the Ganges River and its tributaries (left) and the Brahmaputra River (right) on February 1, 2006. The plumes appear to combine like their watery counterparts and flow out together over the Bay of Bengal past the Mouths of the Ganges, the multi-pronged delta of the river along the Bangladesh coast. This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite. Scientists studying the cloud of haze that frequently lingers over parts of Asia from Pakistan to China and even the Indian and Pacific Oceans have called the pollution the "Asian Brown Cloud." The mix of aerosols (tiny particles suspended in the air) includes smoke from agricultural and home heating and cooking fires, vehicle exhaust, and industrial emissions. In addition to the respiratory problems the persistent haze can cause, it also appears to hinder crops by blocking sunlight and could be altering regional weather. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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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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Thick Haze Over Northern Ind
…
| Title |
Thick Haze Over Northern India |
| Description |
The skies over Northern India are filled with a thick soup of aerosol particles all along the southern edge of the Himalayan Mountains, and streaming southward over Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. Notice that the air over the Tibetan Plateau to the north of the Himalayas is very clear, whereas the view of the land surface south of the mountains is obstructed by the brownish haze. Most of this air pollution comes from human activities. The aerosol over this region is notoriously rich in sulfates, nitrates, organic and black carbon, and fly ash. These particles not only represent a health hazard to those people living in the region, but scientists have also recently found that they can have a significant impact on the region's hydrological cycle and climate (click to read the relevant NASA press release [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/2001/200108135050.html ]). This true-color image was acquired on December 4, 2001, by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA?s Terra [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. It is interesting to compare the image above with this earlier MODIS image over the region, acquired on October 23, 2001 [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=5258 ]. Notice the difference in the clarity of the air over the region in the earlier image. Under the thick plume of aerosol, the Brahmaputra (upper right) and Ganges Rivers are still visible. The many mouths of the Ganges have turned the northern waters of the Bay of Bengal a murky brown as they empty their sediment-laden waters into the bay. Toward the upper lefthand corner of the image, there appears to be a fresh swath of snow on the ground just south of the Himalayas. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://modis-land.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Thick Haze Over Northern Ind
…
| Title |
Thick Haze Over Northern India |
| Description |
The skies over Northern India are filled with a thick soup of aerosol particles all along the southern edge of the Himalayan Mountains, and streaming southward over Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. Notice that the air over the Tibetan Plateau to the north of the Himalayas is very clear, whereas the view of the land surface south of the mountains is obstructed by the brownish haze. Most of this air pollution comes from human activities. The aerosol over this region is notoriously rich in sulfates, nitrates, organic and black carbon, and fly ash. These particles not only represent a health hazard to those people living in the region, but scientists have also recently found that they can have a significant impact on the region's hydrological cycle and climate (click to read the relevant NASA press release [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/2001/200108135050.html ]). This true-color image was acquired on January 14, 2002, by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA?s Terra [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://modis-land.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Tropical Cyclone 01B
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone 01B |
| Description |
On May 14, 2003, the MODIS instrument onboard the NASA's Terra satellite captured this bird's-eye view of Tropical Cyclone 01B in the Bay of Bengal. This satellite image reveals that the low-level circulation is fully exposed to the east of the deep convection (dense cloud). 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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Tropical Cyclone 01B
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone 01B |
| Description |
On May 11, 2003, the MODIS instrument onboard the NASA's Aqua satellite captured this bird's-eye view of Tropical Cyclone 01B in the Bay of Bengal. 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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Tropical Cyclone 01B
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone 01B |
| Description |
During the past few days (May 15-19, 2003) Tropical Cyclone 01B developed in the Indian Ocean and achieved hurricane status for a few hours. However, the storm has produced copious amounts of rainfall leading to a large loss of life in Sri Lanka. The heavy rain accumulation, exceeding nine inches, is shown in the accompanying image. The rain accumulation map was produced using the TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA's TRMM or Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission features a spaceborne weather radar built by the Japanese space agency NASDA. In operation for five years, TRMM has provided unprecedented views of tropical rain events around the globe, and now also provides information on flash flood potential (accessed by visiting the TRMM website at trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov). In this image, note the huge rainfall footprint produced by Tropical Cyclone 01B as it intensified over the Bay of Bengal. At first, it would appear that the isolated rainfall pocket located over Sri Lanka bears little relation to the burgeoning tropical storm. However, there is evidence to suggest that the rainstorms that deluged Sri Lanka were associated with an outer "feeder band" of moisture entering the tropical cyclone from the southwest. This image was generated by Hal Pierce of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Tropical Cyclone 03B
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone 03B |
| Description |
TROPICAL CYCLONE HITS EAST COAST OF INDIA A tropical cyclone (03B) with winds reported of up to 75 mph hit the east coast of India just after midnight local time on the 16th of December 2003. At least 11 people perished in the storm, which brought heavy rains to the region. The cyclone formed in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal. It then moved steadily northwestward before coming ashore at the port city of Vishakhapatnam in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite obtained this image of the cyclone just as the center was approaching the coastline. The image was taken at 12:00 UTC on 15 December 2003. It shows the cyclone's rainfall distribution from above as seen by the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) in the inner swath and the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) in the outer swath overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) in white. A localized area of intense rain appears near the center in red. However, most of the rainfall is moderate in intensity (green areas) with rain rates on the order of 10 to 20 mm/hr and occurs north of the center. The VIRS data reveal the storm's cirrus shield to be symmetrical with broad outflow, meaning that it was not being inhibited by atmospheric wind shear. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency NASDA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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Tropical Cyclone 03B
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone 03B |
| Description |
TROPICAL CYCLONE HITS EAST COAST OF INDIA A tropical cyclone (03B) with winds reported of up to 75 mph hit the east coast of India just after midnight local time on the 16th of December 2003. At least 11 people perished in the storm, which brought heavy rains to the region. The cyclone formed in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal. It then moved steadily northwestward before coming ashore at the port city of Vishakhapatnam in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite obtained this image of the cyclone just as the center was approaching the coastline. The image was taken at 12:00 UTC on 15 December 2003. It shows the cyclone's rainfall distribution from above as seen by the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) in the inner swath and the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) in the outer swath overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) in white. A localized area of intense rain appears near the center in red. However, most of the rainfall is moderate in intensity (green areas) with rain rates on the order of 10 to 20 mm/hr and occurs north of the center. The VIRS data reveal the storm's cirrus shield to be symmetrical with broad outflow, meaning that it was not being inhibited by atmospheric wind shear. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency NASDA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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Tropical Cyclone 03B
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone 03B |
| Description |
Cyclonic storms in the Arabian Sea are rare, but not unheard of. Two tropical cyclones in the space of a month, on the other hand, is quite rare indeed. Unlike its predecessor, Tropical Cyclone Gonu, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14295 ] Cyclone 03B originated on the opposite side of the Indian Peninsula in the Bay of Bengal. At 11:10 a.m. local time (06:10 UTC) on June 25, 2007, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image, Tropical Cyclone 03B was reforming in the Arabian Sea south of the Pakistan coast after having crossed over India. The storm system has a discernible spiraling shape, but does not appear well-formed in this image. The storm has no distinct eye, suggesting that it was not particularly well organized. At the time, sustained winds were measured at 60 kilometers per hour (40 miles per hour) according to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center. [ http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/ ] The storm flooded India's Andhra Pradesh province, resulting in 45 deaths, according to Weather Underground. [ http://www.wunderground.com/ ] It also caused flooding and wind damage in Karachi, Pakistan, where the death toll was around 200, according to BBC News. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/ ] After crossing land, the storm reached the Arabian Sea and began to reform. As of June 26, forecasts were calling for the storm to gain some organization and power, skirt the Pakistan coast, and make landfall again somewhere near the border between Iran and Pakistan. Storm surge from Cyclone 03B was predicted to be moderately high, even though the storm was not strong, since the offshore waters are shallow, similar to the northern Gulf of Mexico. Because these kinds of storms are rare in the area, coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to storm surge damage. You can download a 250-meter-resolution Cyclone 03B KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jun2007/ cyc03b_tmo_2007158.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Tropical Cyclone Baaz Approa
…
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Baaz Approaches India |
| Description |
On November 29, 2005, a tropical cyclone brewed in the Bay of Bengal off the southern coast of India near the island of Sri Lanka. This image of the organizing storm, called Baaz, was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Tuesday, November 29, at 5:05 UTC (10:35 a.m. local time). The storm does not have the classical cyclone shape in the image, but some arcing bands of clouds are beginning to take shape to the northeast of the storm's core, and several areas of "boiling" clouds suggest intense thunderstorm activity. As of the early afternoon of November 30, the storm had slowed in its west-northwest progress toward land, and forecasters at the Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center were predicting that the storm would be arriving at the coast of India within 48 hours. According to news reports, thousands of people were evacuating the low-lying coastal states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in southern India, areas which were affected by the December 2004 tsunami as well as by flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13263 ] in recent weeks. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ]Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Tropical Cyclone Gonu
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Gonu |
| Description |
MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center., You might expect to see a storm with near-perfect symmetry and a well-defined eye hovering over the warm waters of the Caribbean or in the South Pacific, but Tropical Cyclone Gonu showed up in an unusual place. On June 4, 2007, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image, Tropical Cyclone Gonu was approaching the northeastern shore of Oman, a region better known for hot desert conditions. Though rare, cyclones like Gonu are not unheard of in the northern Indian Ocean basin. Most cyclones that form in the region form over the Bay of Bengal, east of India. Those that take shape over the Arabian Sea, west of the Indian peninsula, tend to be small and fizzle out before coming ashore. Cyclone Gonu is a rare exception. As of June 4, 2007, the powerful storm had reached a dangerous Category 4 [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml ] status, and it was forecast to graze Oman's northeastern shore, following the Gulf of Oman. According to storm statistics maintained on Unisys Weather, [ http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/ ] the last storm of this size to form over the Arabian Sea was Cyclone 01A, which tracked northwest along the coast of India between May 21 and May 28, 2001. Unlike Gonu's forecasted track, Cyclone 01A's path never brought it ashore. MODIS acquired this photo-like image at 12:00 p.m. local time (9:00 UTC), a few hours after the Joint Typhoon Warning Center [ https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php ] estimated Gonu's sustained winds to be over 240 kilometers per hour (145 miles per hour). The satellite image confirms that Gonu was a super-powerful cyclone. The storm has the hallmark tightly wound arms that spiral around a well-defined, circular eye. The eye is surrounded by a clear wall of towering clouds that cast shadows on the surrounding clouds. Called hot towers, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17662 ] these clouds are a sign of the powerful uplift that feeds the storm. The symmetrical spirals, clear eye, and towering clouds are all features regularly seen in satellite images of other particularly powerful cyclones, which are also known as typhoons or hurricanes when they form in other parts of the world. The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS' full spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2007155-0604/Gonu.A2007155.0900 ] You can download a 250-meter-resolution Cyclone Gonu KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jun2007/Gonu.A2007155.0900.250m.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, |
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Tropical Cyclone Gonu
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Gonu |
| Description |
A storm with near-perfect symmetry and a well-defined eye hovering over the warm waters of the Caribbean or in the South Pacific is not unusual, but Tropical Cyclone Gonu showed up in a rather different place: the Arabian Sea. Though rare, cyclones like Gonu are not unheard of in the northern Indian Ocean basin. Most cyclones that form in the region form over the Bay of Bengal, east of India. Those that take shape over the Arabian Sea, west of the Indian peninsula, tend to be small and fizzle out before coming ashore. Cyclone Gonu was a rare exception. According to storm statistics maintained on Unisys Weather, [ http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/ ] the last storm of this size to form over the Arabian Sea was Cyclone 01A, which tracked northwest along the coast of India between May 21 and May 28, 2001. Unlike Gonu's forecasted track, Cyclone 01A's path never brought it ashore. At 9:35 a.m. local time (06:35 UTC) on June 5, 2007, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image, Tropical Cyclone Gonu was approaching the northeastern shore of Oman. At this time, the powerful storm had reached a dangerous Category 4 [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml ] status. Sustained winds were measured at 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour) according to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center, [ http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/ ] at the time of this MODIS image. The storm has the hallmark tightly wound arms that spiral around a well-defined, circular eye. The eye is surrounded by a wall of towering clouds that cast shadows on the surrounding clouds. Called hot towers, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17662 ], these clouds are a sign of the powerful uplift that feeds the storm. The symmetrical spirals, distinct eye, and towering clouds are all features regularly seen in satellite images of other particularly powerful cyclones, which are also known as typhoons or hurricanes when they form in other parts of the world. The forecast as of June 5 called for the storm to graze Oman's shore, but with the center of the storm staying offshore in the Gulf of Oman. The storm's first landfall was predicted to be in southern Iran. The cooler water along the Oman coast was expected to rob the storm of some of its intensity, and it was predicted to strike the Iranian coast at around Category 1 strength. If, however, the forecast track is not quite right and the storm stays farther from shore over shallower and much warmer waters in the Gulf of Oman, it could make landfall while still packing Category 3 winds. In either case, communities along the Gulf of Oman are poorly prepared for hurricanes, given their rarity, and severe damage to cities and oil platforms is possible due to winds and storm surge. The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS' full spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2007156-0605/Gonu.A2007156.0635 ] You can download a 250-meter-resolution Cyclone Gonu KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jun2007/Gonu.A2007156.0635.250m.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Tropical Cyclone Sidr
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Sidr |
| Description |
Tropical Cyclone Sidr was continuing its northward progress over the Bay of Bengal on November 14, 2007. It was moving north toward the Mouths of the Ganges at a speed of 13 kilometers per hour (8 miles per hour), and winds in the storm system were raging at 220 km/hr (140 mph) near the storm's center, making it a Category 4 strength [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml ] tropical cyclone. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite acquired this photo-like image at 10:15 a.m. local time (4:45 UTC) on November 14, 2007. Tropical Cyclone Sidr appears here as a well-developed and distinct ball of circling clouds, the storm has a distinct but cloudy eye at its center. An extended arm of clouds reaches northward from the storm across Bangladesh, bringing the influence of the storm onshore already even though it was hundreds of kilometers to the south. Western Bangladesh, where the storm appeared to be headed as of November 15, is the most heavily populated low-lying area in the world, with a history of severe causalities from previous storms due to both direct flooding and storm surge. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center [ https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php ] was predicting that the storm would weaken, but still make landfall with hurricane-force winds. In 1970, a Category 3 storm that made landfall in the same vicinity caused 300,000 deaths and was one of the most deadly natural disasters in modern history. Another 138,000 people perished in 1991 from another such cyclone. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Tropical Cyclone Sidr
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Sidr |
| Description |
Tropical Cyclone Sidr was gathering strength when 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 on November 12, 2007. The storm's swirling clouds straddle the center of the Bay of Bengal, with the eastern shores of Sri Lanka and India forming the left edge of the image. At the time that this image was taken, Sidr was relatively small, with sustained winds estimated at 100 kilometers per hour (60 miles per hour or 55 knots), the equivalent of an Atlantic tropical storm. Despite its small size, Sidr is well-formed, with a dark spot near the center where an eye may be developing surrounded by tight bands of clouds. On November 12, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center [ https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php ] forecast that Sidr would grow to the equivalent of a Category 2 storm, with sustained winds of 170 km/hr (100 mph or 90 knots) by November 14. NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Flooding in Eastern India
| Title |
Flooding in Eastern India |
| Description |
India's annual monsoon triggered widespread flooding throughout the country in early July 2007. In West Bengal, ABC News [ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/08/1972766.htm ] reported, nearly a million people were stranded by flooding. Every major river in the East Indian state was swollen from torrential rain and releases from too-full reservoirs, ABC added. As of July 10, at least 187 people had died and 7 million had been affected by flooding across India, said Reuters. [ http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSDEL267798._CH_.2400 ] This image shows extensive flooding in West Bengal (top) and northern Orissa (lower left) as seen by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on July 9, 2007. The lower image was taken on May 31, before the monsoon rains started. In this type of image, water is typically black, as seen in the Bay of Bengal. However, the water is heavily laden with mud in the flooded landscape, so its coloring is light blue. The extensive floods cut between the channels of the Ganges River, which flow into the Bay of Bengal in the center of the image, and extend southwest along the coast. Additional flooding is visible in the large image, which shows a broader area. Clouds, which appear light blue and white in this image made from infrared and visible light, cover the floods in Bangladesh to the east. In addition to causing floods, the monsoon rains have brought new life to eastern India. The landscape has gone from the tan-pink of bare earth to the bright green that indicates plant cover. You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jul2007/eindia_tmo_2007190.kmz ] and comparison imagery from May 31, suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Flooding in Eastern India
| Title |
Flooding in Eastern India |
| Description |
India's annual monsoon triggered widespread flooding throughout the country in early July 2007. In West Bengal, ABC News [ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/08/1972766.htm ] reported, nearly a million people were stranded by flooding. Every major river in the East Indian state was swollen from torrential rain and releases from too-full reservoirs, ABC added. As of July 10, at least 187 people had died and 7 million had been affected by flooding across India, said Reuters. [ http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSDEL267798._CH_.2400 ] This image shows extensive flooding in West Bengal (top) and northern Orissa (lower left) as seen by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on July 9, 2007. The lower image was taken on May 31, before the monsoon rains started. In this type of image, water is typically black, as seen in the Bay of Bengal. However, the water is heavily laden with mud in the flooded landscape, so its coloring is light blue. The extensive floods cut between the channels of the Ganges River, which flow into the Bay of Bengal in the center of the image, and extend southwest along the coast. Additional flooding is visible in the large image, which shows a broader area. Clouds, which appear light blue and white in this image made from infrared and visible light, cover the floods in Bangladesh to the east. In addition to causing floods, the monsoon rains have brought new life to eastern India. The landscape has gone from the tan-pink of bare earth to the bright green that indicates plant cover. You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jul2007/eindia_tmo_2007190.kmz ] and comparison imagery from May 31, suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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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. JekyllMr. 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 howeverthe monsoon may be wetter in a particular year or winter snows might be greater, leading to more snowmeltand 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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Flooding in Myanmar
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Flooding in Myanmar |
| Description |
On May 19, 2004, a tropical cyclone [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12148 ] moved ashore over northern Myanmar bringing strong tidal surges and coastal flooding. As of June 4, the government estimated that 220 people had died and others are still missing. Over 18,000 were left homeless. On May 26, one week after the storm moved ashore, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite detected ongoing flooding near the Bay of Bengal. In the false-color image, left, the flooded area is blue. By comparison, a MODIS image taken on May 10 shows dry land (tan pixels) where the blue flood waters are in the flooded scene. In both images, clouds are light blue. NASA image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Flooding in Myanmar
| Title |
Flooding in Myanmar |
| Description |
On May 19, 2004, a tropical cyclone [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12148 ] moved ashore over northern Myanmar bringing strong tidal surges and coastal flooding. As of June 4, the government estimated that 220 people had died and others are still missing. Over 18,000 were left homeless. On May 26, one week after the storm moved ashore, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite detected ongoing flooding near the Bay of Bengal. In the false-color image, left, the flooded area is blue. By comparison, a MODIS image taken on May 10 shows dry land (tan pixels) where the blue flood waters are in the flooded scene. In both images, clouds are light blue. NASA image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Tropical Storm brings Heavy
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Tropical Storm brings Heavy Rains to Burma |
| Description |
Unnamed tropical storm 02B came ashore along the northwest coast of Burma (Myanmar) on the 19th of May 2004 bringing with it strong winds and heavy rains. The system formed in the northern Bay of Bengal on May 17, and moved east as a strong tropical storm with maximum sustained winds estimated at 60 knots (69 mph) by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center as it crossed the coast of Burma. The system came ashore near the port city of Sittwe not far from the border with Bangladesh. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global tropics. MPA rainfall totals for the region surrounding the northern Bay of Bengal are shown for the period 12-19 May 2004. Up to 20 inches of rain (darkest red areas) fell over the foothills and southern slopes of the Himalayan Mountains over northeastern Indian and Bhutan and along the north east coastline of the Bay of Bengal over far western Burma and southern Bangladesh. The heavy rain over western Burma and southern Bangladesh was a direct result of tropical storm 02B, while most of the heavy rain farther north along the slopes of the Himalayas was a result of low pressure centered over northern India and Nepal drawing moisture up from the Bay of Bengal earlier in the period. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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