April 20, 2022 - Taklamakan Shrouded in Dust

Follow @NASA_MODIS

Taklimakan Desert
Tweet
Share

Sitting in western China and cradled on three sides by tall mountain
ranges, the Taklamakan Desert is one of the most barren and driest
areas on Earth. Created by the rain shadow of the surrounding
mountains, parts of the Taklamakan receive only 10 millimeters (0.4
inches) of rainfall in an entire year. It is also the world’s second
largest shifting sand desert, with about 85 percent of its area filled
with towering sand dunes, measuring up to 200-300 meters (650 to 900
feet) that move with the prevailing winds. Thanks to its location close
to frigid Siberia, the Taklamakan Desert experiences some of the
Earth’s record cold temperatures in winter. Even in summer, nighttime
temperatures remain chilly. Thanks to the topography, strong winds
frequently blow across the expansive desert. And these winds create
massive sandstorms, especially in the spring and summer.

On April 18, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
the Taklamakan Desert veiled by a large dust storm. Snow tops the
Kunlun Shan mountains to the south and the Tian Shan mountains to the
north. Lake Issyk-Kul sits in the Tian Shan mountains of eastern
Kyrgyzstan. The air over the mountains is dust-free, allowing a crisp,
clear view of the landscape. In sharp contrast, dust covers the entire
area over the Taklamakan Desert and, in the east, a band of dust
completely obscures the land from view.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 4/18/2022
Resolutions: 1km (296.4 KB), 500m (852.3 KB), 250m (3.1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-04-20

--- up 7 weeks, 2 days, 20 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)