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October 30, 2021 - Snow on the Tibetan Plateau
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A broad swath of snow accentuated the northern Tibetan Plateau in late October 2021. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the wintery scene on October 29.
The Tibetan Plateau stretches from the Himalaya Mountains in the south to the edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the north. The high region, sometimes called “The Roof of the World”, is home to more than 1,500 large and small lakes that cover 24,183 square kilometers (9,337 square miles). The area is also the source of many of Asia’s major rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Indus, Ganges, Salween (Nu Jiang), Mekong (Lancang Jiang), Yangtze (Chang Jiang), and Yellow (Huang He) Rivers.
Because the winter snowpack on the Tibetan Plateau feeds these rivers, it is critical for the well-being of many millions of people who live along the waterways. Scientists are studying the impact of a warming climate on the Tibetan Plateau, including a trend in decreasing snow at lower elevations and loss of glacial ice in the higher elevations.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 10/29/2021
Resolutions:
1km (2.6 MB), 500m (7.6 MB), 250m (16.7 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
A broad swath of snow accentuated the northern Tibetan Plateau in late October 2021. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the wintery scene on October 29.
The Tibetan Plateau stretches from the Himalaya Mountains in the south to the edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the north. The high region, sometimes called “The Roof of the World”, is home to more than 1,500 large and small lakes that cover 24,183 square kilometers (9,337 square miles). The area is also the source of many of Asia’s major rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Indus, Ganges, Salween (Nu Jiang), Mekong (Lancang Jiang), Yangtze (Chang Jiang), and Yellow (Huang He) Rivers.
Because the winter snowpack on the Tibetan Plateau feeds these rivers, it is critical for the well-being of many millions of people who live along the waterways. Scientists are studying the impact of a warming climate on the Tibetan Plateau, including a trend in decreasing snow at lower elevations and loss of glacial ice in the higher elevations.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 10/29/2021
Resolutions:
1km (2.6 MB), 500m (7.6 MB), 250m (16.7 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
