Heavy Smoke over China

There was a thick layer of smog (greyish pixels) over central portions of China on July 11, 2002, while a thick pall of smoke from dozens of fires (red pixels) in the east obscured the Chinese coastline. There also appears to be a heavy sediment loading (reddish brown pixels) being carried by the Yangtze River into the East China Sea—probably the result of heavy rains and high water levels further inland.

This true-color image was acquired on July 11 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, flying aboard NASA’s Terra satellite. Please note that the high-resolution scene provided here is 500 meters per pixel. For a copy of the scene at the sensor's fullest resolution, visit the MODIS Rapid Response Image Gallery.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS
  • Visualization Date

    2002-07-11