March 28, 2005
Thick clouds of dust blow east from China’s Gobi Desert through the mountains passes of the Luliang Shan and the Yellow River Valley and over the North China Plain in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image. The image, acquired on March 28, 2005, by NASA’s Aqua satellite, captures one of the first yellow dust storms of 2005. Such storms are common in the spring, and can occasionally be powerful enough to carry dust across the Pacific Ocean into North America. In this case, haze from industry and fires burning in Southeast Asia may also be contributing to the opaque veil seen in this image.
References & Resources
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC
