Archives for category: Remote Sensing

Solar Farm in Dunhuang

February 1, 2013 //

For centuries, traders along the Silk Road relied on the oasis at Dunhuang for a reprieve from the withering sunlight and heat of the Gobi desert. By 2011, a large solar farm on the outskirts of the city had started transforming that searing light into an energy resource for the region.

The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on the Earth-Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this series of images showing the installation of solar power panels on the outskirts of Dunhuang in the Gansu province of western China. In 2006 (top image), barren desert dominated, except for the road and a few patches of agricultural fields (lower right). By 2011 (middle image), grids of photovoltaic panels began to appear in large numbers. By 2012 (lower image), thousands of square meters were covered.

China’s State Development & Investment Corporation and the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) began construction in the area in August 2009, according to China Daily. Two 10-megawatt (.01 gigawatt) facilities were opened by July 2010, making the site China’s first large-scale solar power station.
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Earth Observatory, February 2013

Categories 2013, Alternative Energy, Remote Sensing, Technology

Siberia Burns

June 19, 2012 //

Siberia Burns

On June 18, 2012, a total of 198 wildfires burned across Russia and had charred an area that covered 8,330 hectares (32 square miles). Many were in central Russia, where firefighters have battled uncontrolled fires for months.

The latest flare-up prompted Russian authorities to declare a state of emergency in seven regions, including the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous area, the Tyva Republic, the Sakha Republic, Krasnoyarsk, Amur, Zabaikalsky, and Sakhalin.

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Earth Observatory, June 2012

Categories 2012, Earth Observatory, Fires, NASA, Remote Sensing

A Monster Slide

June 16, 2012 //

A Monster Slide

One of the world’s largest recorded landslides occurred on April 9, 2000, when more than 100 million cubic meters (3.5 billion cubic feet) of loose rock, ice, and other debris tumbled down a steep, narrow gorge in eastern Tibet.

Within ten minutes, the slurry of debris—which included granite and marble boulders, snow, and sediment—moved nearly 10 kilometers (6 miles) and dropped from an elevation of 5,520 meters (18,110 feet) to the valley floor 2,190 meters above sea level. The debris, lubricated by recent rainfall and meltwater from glaciers on the surrounding mountain peaks, slid through a gully carved by Zhamu Creek at velocities up to 14 meters per second (31 miles per hour).

By the time the mass of material stopped, it had buried the Yigong River, creating a debris dam that blocked the flow of the river. The dam occupied 2.5 square kilometers (1 square mile) and was 90 meters (295 feet) high at its tallest edge. River water began to back up immediately, creating a large lake behind the dam. As time passed, increasing volumes of water began to seep through the bottom of the dam, muddying the river water downstream. Meanwhile, the area and volume of the lake continued to grow.

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Earth Observatory, June 2012

Categories 2012, Earth Observatory, Earth Science, Remote Sensing, Uncategorized

Wheat Fires in China

June 14, 2012 //

Wheat Fires in China

In mid-June, agricultural fires and industrial pollution combined to leave a thick pall of haze over central China. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured these true-color (top) and false-color (bottom) images of the fires and haze. Both images were acquired at 10:55 a.m. local time (02:55 UTC) on June 13, 2012.

Smoke and actively burning fires (shown with red outlines) are visible in the true-color image, as well as a large burn scar. The false-color image reveals details of the burn scar that aren’t readily apparent in the true-color view. Although the burn scar looks uniform, the false-color view indicates that numerous fields with unburned vegetation (shown as green) are scattered throughout the area. The cities of Bozhou, Huaibei, and Suzhou, which appear as gray patches, were the closest cities to actively-burning fires when Terra acquired the images.

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Earth Observatory, June 2012

Categories 2012, Earth Observatory, Fires, NASA, Remote Sensing

An Australian “Anti-Storm”

June 5, 2012 //

An Australian “Anti-storm”

High-pressure weather systems often bring fair weather and relatively clear skies. In early June 2012, a high off the coast of Tasmania did just that…and in spectacular fashion.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this view of a hole in a cloud formation at 3:00 p.m. local time (05:00 Universal Time) on June 5, 2012. The weather system over the Great Australian Bight cut out the oval-shaped hole from a blanket of marine stratocumulus clouds.

The cloud hole, with a diameter that stretched as far as 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) across, was caused by sinking air associated with an area of high pressure near the surface. Globally, the average sea-level pressure is about 1013 millibars; at the center of this high, pressures topped 1,040 millibars.

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Earth Observatory, June 2012

Categories 2012, Clouds, Earth Observatory, Remote Sensing

Texas Groundwater Severely Depleted

December 1, 2011 //

The record-breaking drought in Texas that has fueled wildfires, decimated crops, and forced the sale of cattle herds has also reduced levels of groundwater to the lowest levels observed in more than 63 years. Groundwater is moisture trapped in pores in the soil and in underground gaps in rock, often known as aquifers.

The map above depicts the amount of groundwater stored underground in the continental United States on November 28, 2011, as compared to the long-term average from 1948 to 2011. Deep reds reveal the most depletion, with deep blues representing aquifers and soils that are nearly full. The maroon shading over eastern Texas, for example, shows that the ground has been this dry less than two percent of the time between 1948 and the present.

At the end of November 2011, groundwater supplies were extremely depleted in more than half of Texas, as well as parts of New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. The northeastern states and the High Plains appear saturated with water heading into winter months.

Earth Observatory, November 2011

Categories Drought, Earth Observatory, Earth Science, Meteorology, NASA, Remote Sensing