Haze and dust from industrial activity blanket low-lying regions of eastern China and northern India, two recent satellite images reveal.
The images, showing the extent of pollution, were captured by two NASA satellites 鈥� Aqua and Terra 鈥� using an instrument called the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).
Aqua, which captures images in the afternoon, took the picture of Eastern China on 17 November, when a gray haze hung over the coastal plain around the Yellow River and spilled out over the Yellow Sea (centre right of image).
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The smog is probably churned out by the country鈥檚 coal-fuelled power plants, smoke from fireplaces in individual homes, and vehicle exhaust and pollution from nearby Beijing and Tianjin. 鈥淭his type of haze event is common in this part of China,鈥� says Jon Ranson, Terra project scientist at NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, US.
Hazy Himalayas
Terra, which captures images in the morning, snapped the picture of haze along the foothills of the Himalayan mountains in northern India on 15 November. The haze spreads from the southern Bay of Bengal to the mouth of the Ganges River (centre right of image). But it clears over the Tibetan Plateau to the north of the Himalayas (top of image).
鈥淭he Himalayas are definitely acting as a barrier to keep the smoke and pollution in that particular region,鈥� Ranson told New 杏吧原创. 鈥淭he smoke and other pollutants back up against the mountains.鈥�
Terra and Aqua, launched in 1999 and 2002, are 鈥減art of NASA鈥檚 programme to understand the Earth as a system鈥�, says Ranson. 鈥淲e鈥檙e making measurements of the atmosphere and the ground and their changes and trying to understand the factors causing those changes.鈥�
In fact, NASA signed an agreement on Thursday to share data from its Earth-observation satellites with the World Conservation Union 鈥� the world鈥檚 largest environmental knowledge network.
The data will be made available to the union鈥檚 1000 member organisations 鈥� which include government agencies in both developed and developing countries 鈥� to aid environmental policy decisions. It could also be used to map the world鈥檚 100,000 protected areas, many of which are difficult to access.
鈥淭his opportunity for NASA to help advance conservation efforts globally reinforces our vision to use our unique vantage from space to improve life here on Earth,鈥� says NASA鈥檚 deputy associate administrator for science, Ghassem Asrar.