In March 2002, a few days earlier than usual, a large, dense plume of dust blew  southward and eastward from the desert plains of Mongolia -- seriously affecting air quality for the residents of Beijing and surrounding areas. Citizens of northeastern China call this annual event the "shachenbao," or "dust cloud tempest." The dust storm hit Beijing on March 15 and began coating everything with a fine, pale brown layer of grit. The region is quite dry, a problem some believe has been exacerbated by decades of deforestation. According to Chinese government estimates, roughly one million tons of desert dust and sand blow into Beijing each year. This true-color image was made using data from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), flying aboard the OrbView-2 satellite, on March 17, 2002. The massive dust storm (brownish pixels) can easily be distinguished from clouds (bright white pixels) as it blows across northern Japan and eastward toward the open Pacific ocean.

Reducing uncertainty about the role of atmospheric aerosol particles in the Earth's climate system is one of the highest priorities of research on atmospheric composition. The Aerosol Characterization Experiment-Asia (ACE-Asia) program is making substantial progress toward its goal of characterizing the aerosol particles leaving Asia and moving out over the the North Pacific Ocean. Several large dust storms, as well as pollution plumes and regional dust layers, were studied during an intensive field campaign in spring, 2001, in which NSF, DOD, and NOAA collaborated.

Credit: NASAGoddard Space Flight Center, SeaWiFS Project; and ORBIMAGE