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September 7, 2024 - Fresh Snow Caps the Eastern Tien Shan
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Stormy weather swept over northwestern China on September 2-3, bringing a layer of fresh snow to the high elevations of the Eastern Tien Shan mountains. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image highlighting the snow-capped mountains on September 4.
In this type of image, snow is electric blue, vegetation appears bright green, open land can range from tan to brown or even may be tinted with red, depending on soil and rock type. Water looks dark blue, and clouds usually appear white but high, cold clouds that contain ice may take on a tint of electric blue.
The Tien Shan—which means heavenly mountains in Chinese—is one of the largest mountain ranges in the world, extending approximately 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) across Central Asia, mostly along the border between Kyrgyzstan and China. This image shows the ridges of the eastern part of the range in northwestern China near the border with Mongolia.
The long, snow-capped ridge in the center of the image lies east of Ürümqi, the capital of northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Part of the sand-filled Gobi Desert lies north of the mountain ridge while the Taklimakan Desert can be seen in the south.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 9/4/2024
Resolutions:
1km (339.7 KB), 500m (793.9 KB), 250m (1.6 MB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Stormy weather swept over northwestern China on September 2-3, bringing a layer of fresh snow to the high elevations of the Eastern Tien Shan mountains. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image highlighting the snow-capped mountains on September 4.
In this type of image, snow is electric blue, vegetation appears bright green, open land can range from tan to brown or even may be tinted with red, depending on soil and rock type. Water looks dark blue, and clouds usually appear white but high, cold clouds that contain ice may take on a tint of electric blue.
The Tien Shan—which means heavenly mountains in Chinese—is one of the largest mountain ranges in the world, extending approximately 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) across Central Asia, mostly along the border between Kyrgyzstan and China. This image shows the ridges of the eastern part of the range in northwestern China near the border with Mongolia.
The long, snow-capped ridge in the center of the image lies east of Ürümqi, the capital of northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Part of the sand-filled Gobi Desert lies north of the mountain ridge while the Taklimakan Desert can be seen in the south.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 9/4/2024
Resolutions:
1km (339.7 KB), 500m (793.9 KB), 250m (1.6 MB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
