NASA Instrument Snaps Pictures of Desert in the Sky
May 9, 2001

Instrument Snaps Desert in the Sky

The desert takes to the skies in these images of eastern China from NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR). A hazy summer view from last summer compares with a spectacularly dusty spring view from April 7, 2001. A high- resolution view of this flying desert reveals fingerprint-like ridges and valleys. Airborne dust clouds from this April 2001 storm blew across the Pacific Ocean and were carried as far as North America.

       The images are available at:

       http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/misr

       Analyses of images such as these constitute one phase of MISR's participation in the Asian-Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment, an international campaign aimed at studying the offshore transport of airborne particles from the Asian continent. More information about this international endeavor is available online at http://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/aceasia/ .

       MISR, built and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is one of several Earth- observing experiments aboard Terra, launched in December 1999. MISR acquires images of the Earth at nine angles simultaneously, using nine separate cameras pointed forward, downward, and backward along its flight path. More information about MISR is available at http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov .

       JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.