Haze and smog across Northern India

A river of haze follows the course of the Ganges River in northern India, flowing eastward along the base of the towering, snow-capped Himalaya Mountains (upper right) before turning south over Bangladesh and then spreading out in gray streamers over the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean (lower right). Underneath the haze, thick white clouds of fog sit along the base of the Himalaya.

Although the pollution comes from human activities,—agricultural fires; home heating sources that rely on wood, kerosene, or dung; and industrial and vehicle emissions—it lingers because of topography and atmospheric circulation patterns. In the winter phase of the Indian Ocean Monsoon, winds typically blow seaward, which carries the large, thick .brown cloud. of pollution far out over the ocean.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image on December 17, 2004.

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Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published December 18, 2004
Data acquired December 17, 2004

Source:

Terra > MODIS

Collection:

Visible Earth