November 26, 2022 - Snow Across the Himalayas and Kunlun Mountains
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Fresh snow topped the Himalayas and the Kunlun Mountains in late
November 2022.
On November 24, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a false-color image of
the tall peaks between China’s Taklamakan Desert (north) and India’s
Indo-Gangetic Plain. The use of infrared and visible light (MODIS bands
7,2,1) helps separate snow, which appears bright electric blue, from
standing water/lakes, which appear dark blue. Also, vegetation appears
bright green while open land looks tan or brown.
The extremely dry and sand-filled Taklamakan Desert fills the northern
section of the image. Vegetation flourishes where moisture exists, both
around the edges of the desert and along a very few rivers that flow
toward the center of the Taklamakan. The topography sharply increases
on the southwestern and southern edge of the desert, where the Kunlun
Mountains rise upward more than 23,000 feet in some locations. Further
south, the tall Himalaya Mountains roughly parallel the Kunlun in the
west, but the two ranges diverge in the east, split by the Tibetan
Plateau. The Tibetan Plateau is sometimes called the “Roof of the
World” as it is the world’s highest and largest plateau, with an
average elevation of more than 14,000 feet. Many lakes speckle the
Tibetan Plateau. The southern slopes of the Himalayas are covered with
deep green vegetation, indicating abundant moisture. The low-lying
plain at the foot of the Himalayas is an extremely fertile region, as
can be inferred from the abundant vegetation that spreads southward to
the edge of the image.
Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/24/2022
Resolutions: 1km (770.4 KB), 500m (6.5 MB), 250m (4.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-11-26
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