A film of haze hangs over northern India along the dark green curve of the Himalaya Mountains in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image, taken on November 10, 2004, by NASA’s Aqua satellite. The haze is probably being caused by widespread agricultural fires burning along the mountain front. The fires have been marked with small red dots. Urban pollution and industry may also have contributed to the pollution. This pattern of haze is common in India and Nepal because the southern air mass cannot pass over the barrier formed by the Himalaya. The mountains also seem to be blocking clouds from moving from China, top right, to India and Pakistan, lower left. China is cloudy, but the areas southwest of the mountains are mostly clear.
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NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team.
