Sea Ice Max Continues Downward Trend

In September 2012, the ice cap over the Arctic Ocean shrank to its lowest extent on record, about half the size of the average summertime extent from 1979 to 2000. That sea ice minimum continued a long-term trend of diminishing ice cover over the past few decades.

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China and Mongolia hit by massive dust storm

The dust that arose along the China-Mongolia border on March 8, 2013, remained suspended the following day. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image on March 9. The dust had continued traveling toward the southeast, and the camel-colored plume extended several hundred kilometers into eastern China.

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Unusual Cold for China and Northeast Asia

Between late November 2012 and early January 2013, China recorded its lowest temperatures in 28 years. In northeastern China, air temperatures dipped to -15.3°Celsius (4.5°Fahrenheit), according to the state news agency Xinhua. Frigid temperatures and blizzards stranded air and rail passengers, killed roughly 180,000 cattle, and forced authorities to open hundreds of shelters.

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Beijing Residents Warned To Stay Indoors

Residents of Beijing and many other cities in China were warned to stay inside in mid-January 2013 as the nation faced one of the worst periods of air quality in recent history. The Chinese government ordered factories to scale back emissions, while hospitals saw spikes of more than 20 to 30 percent in patients complaining of respiratory issues, according to news reports.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired these natural-color images of northeastern China on January 14 (top) and January 3, 2013. The top image shows extensive haze, low clouds, and fog over the region. The brightest areas tend to be clouds or fog, which have a tinge of gray or yellow from the air pollution. Other cloud-free areas have a pall of gray and brown smog that mostly blots out the cities below. In areas where the ground is visible, some of the landscape is covered with lingering snow from storms in recent weeks. (Snow is more prominent in the January 3 image.)

At the time that the January 14 image was taken by satellite, ground-based sensors at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing reported PM_2.5 measurements of 291 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Fine, airborne particulate matter (PM) that is smaller than 2.5 microns (about one thirtieth the width of a human hair) is considered dangerous because it is small enough to enter the passages of the human lungs. Most PM_2.5 aerosol particles come from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass (wood fires and agricultural burning). The World Health Organization considers PM_2.5 to be safe when it is below 25.

Also at the time of the image, the air quality index (AQI) in Beijing was 341. An AQI above 300 is considered hazardous to all humans, not just those with heart or lung ailments. AQI below 50 is considered good. On January 12, the peak of the current air crisis, AQI was 775 the U.S Embassy Beijing Air Quality Monitor—off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scale—and PM_2.5 was 886 micrograms per cubic meter.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.

Instrument: Terra - MODIS

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Storm Turns Asian Desert White

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. 

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Dozens Killed And 20,000 Homes Damaged In China Earthquakes

A damaged house is seen in Luozehe Town, Yiliang County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sept. 7, 2012. A 5.7 magnitude earthquake jolted the border area of Yiliang county of Yunnan and Weining county of Guizhou at 11:19 a.m. Friday. At least 50 people have been killed and more than 160 others injured so far.

Two shallow 5.6 magnitude earthquakes hit mountainous southwestern China on Friday, killing at least 64 people and forcing tens of thousands of people from damaged buildings, state media said.  

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WORLD FROM SPACE - Dust Cloud, Taklimakan Desert, China

Dust stirred in western China’s Taklimakan Desert at the beginning of August 2012. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on August 2, 2012. It shows dust and clouds along the desert’s southern rim.

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Typhoon Tembin Strengthens Further

Across the island of Taiwan, about 7,000 residents evacuated their homes and 50,000 households lost power after Tembin made landfall, Agence France-Presse reported. Although earlier forecasts had called for Tembin to continue moving westward, eventually coming ashore in China, the storm changed course, and lingered over the ocean off southwestern Taiwan in late August 2012.

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Taiwan Hit By Typhoon Tembin

On August 22, 2012, Typhoon Tembin hovered over the western Pacific Ocean. As forecast, the storm had moved northward past the Philippines and was predicted to turn toward the west and travel over Taiwan, en route to southeastern China.

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Typhoon Tembin To Make Landfall In China And Taiwan

After four other Typhoons—Saola, Damrey, Haikui, and Kai-tak—made landfall in eastern China in just three weeks, Typhoon Tembin appeared ready to do the same. Tembin formed as a tropical depression over the western Pacific Ocean on August 19, 2012, and strengthened to a typhoon the next day.

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WORLD FROM SPACE - Yanqi Basin, China

 

The Yanqi Basin, in China’s Xinjian Province, lies in the Taklamakan Desert. The basin receives an average of just 80 mm (3 inches) of precipitation per year, making it one of the driest places in the world. 

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Typhoon Kai-tak Batters The Far East

Photo taken on Aug. 17, 2012 shows lightning above buildings as Typhoon Kai-Tak approaches in Nanning City, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Image Corbis.

Shortly before noon today (August 17, 2012), the eye of Typhoon Kai-tak was located just off the eastern shore of China’s Leizhou Bandao (Leizhou Peninsula). 

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Typhoon Kai-tak To Hit China And Vietnam

After strengthening into a typhoon, Kai-tak continued its approach to the China coast late on Thursday (August 16, 2012).

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Tropical Storm Kai-tak Bears Down On The Philippines

By late Monday (August 13, 2012), Tropical Storm Kai-tak was extending spiral arms over the northern Philippines, on a longer path toward the southeastern coast of China. 

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Haikui Dissipates Over Eastern China

Haikui made landfall in eastern China overnight on August 7–8, 2012. When the storm came ashore, it brought trouble with it. China’s news agency Xinhua reported torrential rains, severed bridges, downed power lines, hundreds of stranded tourists, and about 1.5 million people evacuated.

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Typhoon Haikui Hits China

In early August, authorities closed schools, grounded flights, and halted passenger train travel in coastal regions of China’s Zhejiang Province, Xinhua reported. The precautions were taken in anticipation of Typhoon Haikui, expected to make landfall overnight August 7–8, 2012.

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Thick Haze Blankets China

Thick haze blanketed eastern China in early November 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on November 10. The haze extends southward from Beijing along the coastal plain bordering Bo Hai and the Yellow Sea.

Intermittent haze had clogged the skies over eastern China for at least a month by the time MODIS acquired this image. In early November 2011, The New York Times reported that Beijing had suffered from heavy air pollution for weeks, and the United States Embassy in Beijing had repeatedly registered unsafe levels of particulate matter.

Airborne particles come in different sizes, often measured in microns (also micrometers): one-millionth of a meter. Whereas Beijing’s air-monitoring center has traced particles at 10 microns or larger, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has measured smaller particles, down to a size of 2.5 microns, known as PM2.5, according to news reports. This has caused a discrepancy in air-quality assessments, with the U.S. Embassy classifying pollution levels as hazardous on days when the local government classifies pollution levels as moderate or slight, said The New York Times. Particles with diameters of 2.5 microns or smaller are believed to pose the greatest health risks because they can lodge deeply in the lungs, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

On November 11, 2011, People’s Daily reported that China’s vice-minister of environmental protection described the country’s air pollution standards as “rather lax.” People’s Daily further reported that the government was discussing implementing PM2.5 readings, and hoped to lower fine-particle pollution by about 10 percent by 2015.

NASA image courtesy LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott. Instrument: Terra - MODIS

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