China haze, temperature inversion, poor air quality

Beijing Shrouded in Brown Haze

Coal-fired Power Plants and Essential Clean Air are Diametrically Opposite to Each Other

Haze blanketed Beijing, China, on January 18, 2010, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image. The entirely image is brown, as if covered by a thin film. The image also hints at a contributing factor to the poor air quality: a temperature inversion, contributing to the buildup of pollutants. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek. Edited by FEWW

(MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, January 18, 2010. The gray-brown haze extends from Beijing to the South China Sea from north to south and from Korea to central China from east to west (shown in the large image). This image shows the densely populated and industrialized North China Plain between Beijing and the Yangtze River, where the haze is so dense that it completely obscures the ground. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek. Edited by FEWW

Tropical Cyclone Bijli

TC Bijli dumped as much as 50 mm of rain per hour in parts of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar

Tropical Cyclone Bijli came ashore over eastern Bangladesh on April 17, 2009. The storm caused little damage, according to news reports, but did dump as much as 50 millimeters of rain per hour in the regions where rainfall was heaviest, shown in red, on Bangladesh and neighboring Myanmar. This image, made with data captured by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite on April 17, shows the rainfall associated with the storm. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC). Caption by Holli Riebeek [Edited for brevity by Moderator.]

Tropical Storm Bijli draped the east coast of India in this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on April 16, 2009. Bijli became a tropical storm in the northwest Bay of Bengal on April 15.  NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid [sic] Response team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey. [Edited for brevity by Moderator.]

Images of the Day: Tonga Islands Grow Larger

New Landmass Formed by Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Eruption

Submarine Eruption in the Tonga Islands

Image acquired March 26, 2009

Image acquired November 14, 2006

In mid-March 2009, a plume of ash and gas burst out of the ocean as an undersea volcano began to erupt in the South Pacific nation of Tonga. Small sections of the rim of the large undersea volcano had been above water, forming the islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai. The eruption occurred at two vents, one submerged and the other on Hunga Ha’apai. The eruption pumped out enough rock and ash that by March 25, when the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the top image, the submerged vent was surrounded by new land.

The new land is the dark mass south of Hunga Ha’apai. It had not been present when ASTER acquired the lower image on November 14, 2006. In the March 25 image, clouds cover the space between the new land and Hunga Ha’apai, but news reports indicate that the new land connects Hunga Ha’apai with the underwater vent, essentially enlarging the small island. The vent itself is the nearly perfect circular hole near the southern edge of the new land.

The image reveals some of the other impacts of the eruption. The ocean around the erupting volcano is bright blue, likely colored with ash, rock, and other volcanic debris. The eruption also killed or damaged plants on Hunga Ha’apai. In these false-color images, plant-covered land is red. In 2006, Hunga Ha’apai had supported vegetation, but after the eruption, the island was black. Either the plants were buried in ash or dead in the wake of the eruption. According to a visiting reporter, the eruption destroyed plant and birdlife on the island, leaving blackened tree stumps and dead birds and fish.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. Caption by Holli Riebeek.Instrument: Terra – ASTER

Related and Possibly Related Links:

• Weekly Volcano Watch: 26 March 2009
• Hunga Ha’apai Volcano Update
• Magnitude 7.9 Quake Strikes Tonga Region
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 19 March 2009
• Rumble III Volcano “blew its top!”
• Tonga’s Metis Shoal may be erupting
• Magnitude 7 Earthquake Hits Kermadec Islands