June 25, 2009
Thick haze blew eastward off the coast of China, over Bo Hai and the Yellow Sea in late June 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image on June 25, 2009. The haze appears as a dingy blue-gray veil extending over land and water.
The haze likely results from urban and industrial pollution. China is the world’s most populous nation, and as it has industrialized, air quality has suffered. Seventy-five percent of all urban residents live in places where the air quality falls below the country’s own air-quality standard.
References & Resources
- Liu, J., and Diamond, J. (2005). China’s environment in a globalizing world. Nature. 435, 1179-1186.
NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
