A severe snow-and-sand storm hit an 80,000 square-mile(205,000-square-km) stretch of the Chinese province of Mongolia on NewYear’s Eve, killing 21 people and leaving thousands of people to facepossible starvation. The affected area is located about 250 miles (400km) northwest of Beijing. It is the worst snowstorm to hit the regionin more than 50 years.
Lasting about 3 days, the storm dumped 24 inches (60 cm) of snowmixed with sand from the Gobi Desert, stranding many residents in deepdrifts. The Chinese Red Cross reports that almost 1 million people wereaffected by the storm and at least 10,000 head of livestock areconfirmed dead. As many as 120,000 residents are in need of food andother supplies.
The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), flying aboardthe OrbView-2 satellite, acquired this image of the storm on January 2,2001, as it approached China’s eastern provinces. You can see stormclouds (white pixels) and windblown dust (brownish pixels) crossing theYellow Sea and East China Sea toward Japan and the western Pacific.
References & Resources
Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE
