Pollution across Eastern China and Korea

  • Credit

    Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Dense haze drifts eastward from China across the Yellow Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image acquired by the Aqua satellite on December 24, 2003. As the temperature drops, coal is burned as a source of heat in Asia, and this may account for some of the haze. Just south of the Korea Peninsula, wind eddies have formed swirls in the haze and low clouds.

Along the left side of the image, China’s Yellow and Yangtze Rivers are pumping rich brown sediment into the Bo Hai and the Yellow Sea. As the sediment diffuses, it turns the water a murky green.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Aqua/MODIS

  • Visualization Date

    2004-01-22