Heavy snowfall on March 12, 2004, across north China's Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region, Mongolia and Russia, caused train and highway traffic to
stop for several days along the Russia-China border. This pair of images
from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) highlights the snow
and surface properties across the region on March 13. The left-hand image
is a multi-spectral false-color view made from the near-infrared, red, and
green bands of MISR's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera. The right-hand image
is a multi-angle false-color view made from the red band data of the
46-degree aftward camera, the nadir camera, and the 46-degree forward
camera.
About midway between the frozen expanse of China's Hulun Nur Lake (along
the right-hand edge of the images) and Russia's Torey Lakes (above image
center) is a dark linear feature that corresponds with the China-Mongolia
border. In the upper portion of the images, many small plumes of black
smoke rise from coal and wood fires and blow toward the southeast over the
frozen lakes and snow-covered grasslands. Along the upper left-hand portion
of the images, in Russia's Yablonovyy mountain range and the Onon River
Valley, the terrain becomes more hilly and forested. In the nadir image,
vegetation appears in shades of red, owing to its high near-infrared
reflectivity. In the multi-angle composite, open-canopy forested areas are
indicated by green hues. Since this is a multi-angle composite, the green
color arises not from the color of the leaves but from the architecture of
the surface cover. The green areas appear brighter at the nadir angle than
at the oblique angles because more of the snow-covered surface in the gaps
between the trees is visible. Color variations in the multi-angle composite
also indicate angular reflectance properties for areas covered by snow and
ice. The light blue color of the frozen lakes is due to the increased
forward scattering of smooth ice, and light orange colors indicate rougher
ice or snow, which scatters more light in the backward direction.
The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth
continuously and every 9 days views the entire Earth between 82 degrees
north and 82 degrees south latitude. These data products were generated
from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 22525. The panels
cover an area of about 355 kilometers x 380 kilometers, and utilize data
from blocks 50 to 52 within World Reference System-2 path 126.
MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra
satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.