Lake Baikal, eastern Russia

Low layers of fog and cloud cover eastern Russia’s Lake Baikal, shown here in this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image taken by the Terra satellite on December 11, 2003. The surrounding landscape is dusted in snow, rendering the scene in shades of white and gray. Lake ice is beginning to form at the northernmost end of the lake and in a bay at the middle. Just northwest of the lake, bright white ribbon-like rivers meander through the lands north of Baikal, skirting the Stanovoye Mountains, and flow toward the northeast. These are the rivers Lena and Kirenga, which together form the greater Lena River and eventually empty into the Laptev Sea after skirting the Central Siberian Plateau.

---

Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published January 6, 2004
Data acquired December 11 - 11, 2003

Source:

Terra > MODIS

Collection:

Visible Earth