Fires along the Himalaya front range

Fires along the Himalayan Front Range

9 November 2007

---

Thick haze pushed up against the Himalayan Front Range in earlyNovember 2007. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this pictureon 7 November 2007. This image shows the northwestern tip of the mountain range,with dingy gray haze hugging the snowcapped mountains’ southern slopes. Hazealso spreads farther south, visible in the lower left corner of the image.

AQUA
7 November 2007

Heavy haze frequently collects in this region in the autumn, thanks to a fewfactors. Agricultural fires and increased fuel burning for warmth increase theamount of pollutants. In addition, cool air from the Himalaya sinks over thesouth side of the mountain range, trapping aerosols—tinyliquid or solid particles suspended in air. And behavior of the Asianmonsoon produces few strong winds that would push the haze out of the area.

The large image provided above have a spatial resolution (level of detail) of250 meters per pixel.

(source: EarthObservatory)

---