Particle Pollution in Eastern China

Particle Pollution in Eastern China

Thick haze streamed out of Eastern China over the Korean Peninsula and Japan on November 9, 2004. Cool winter weather often means poor air quality in eastern China, which relies heavily on coal-fired power plants and coal for heating and cooking. Haze blanketed much of eastern China during the first week of November, but a storm moving in on November 8 and 9 seemed to push much of the haze east over the Yellow Sea and Korea. The edge of the clouds are visible on the right side of the image. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image on November 9, 2004.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team.