Snow-covered deserts are rare, but that’s exactly what the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite observed as it passed over the Taklimakan Desert
in western China on January 2, 2013.
Snow has covered much of the
desert since a storm blew through the area on December 26. The day
after the storm, Chinese Central Television (CNTV) reported that the Xinjian Uygyr autonomous region was one of the areas hardest hit.
The Taklimakan is one of the world’s largest—and hottest—sandy
deserts. Water flowing into the Tarim Basin has no outlet, so over the
years, sediments have steadily accumulated. In parts of the desert, sand
can pile up to 300 meters (roughly 1,000 feet) high. The mountains that
enclose the sea of sand—the Tien Shan
in the north and the Kunlun Shan in the south—were also covered with
what appeared to be a significantly thicker layer of snow in January
2013.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.
- Instrument: Aqua - MODIS
