December 13, 2022 - Ice on the Aral Sea

Ice on the Aral Sea
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Seasonal transitions can come quickly in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,
where temperatures can suddenly plummet at the start of winter. High
temperatures in Tastak, a town near the North Aral Sea in Kazakhstan,
registered at 23˚F with a 13˚F low on November 30. Just a few days
later, on December 8, the high was only -1˚F and the day’s low dropped
to a shivering -11˚F. The frigid shift was clearly written on the
landscape as ice quickly encased the North Aral Sea.

On December 12, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
the Aral Sea. The North Aral Sea was covered in ice and snow blanketed
the ground around the North Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and areas west of
the South Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. The western basin remained mostly ice
free, with the jade green water contrasting sharply with the stark tan
landscape. In most winters, the western basin of the Aral Sea remains
open, although it has frozen over in a few especially cold years.

The heavy swath of white fanning out along the southwestern shore of
the western basin of the Aral Sea is an example of “lake-effect” snow
similar to the famous lake-effect snow that creates heavy snowstorms
around the Great Lakes of North America. Lake-effect snow occurs when
cold, dry air blows across relatively warmer open water. The warmth and
moisture from the lake surface rises into the cold, dry atmosphere
where clouds form and grow, then release snow as they pass once again
over dry land. The prevailing winds in this region blow from east to
west, so the lake-effect snow falls on the western side of the Aral Sea
in winter.

While this single image clearly shows a wintery scene at the Aral Sea,
to truly appreciate change over time it is helpful to compare images of
the same location on two different days. The NASA Worldview app makes
such comparisons simple and easy. To compare two true-color Aqua MODIS
images of the Aral Sea, one acquired on December 12, 2022, and one
acquired on November 30, 2022, before temperatures dropped, simply
click here

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 12/12.2022
Resolutions: 1km (229 KB), 500m (660 KB), 250m (380.8 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-12-13

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