October 17, 2011 - Haze over eastern China

Haze over eastern China

Haze filled the air over the coastal plain of eastern China in early October 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on October 7, 2011.

A long band of haze, roughly 100 kilometers wide, extends east-west to the southwest of Beijing. South of Beijing, the haze fans out, extending from the shores of Bo Hai to the shores of the Yellow Sea. Along the shoreline, the haze is thick enough to obscure the coast.

Agricultural fires (visible as red outlines in the high-resolution image) contribute to the haze, but it also results from urban and industrial pollution.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/7/2011
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC