Haze has been blanketing eastern China off and on for at least a month, probably the result of smoke and air pollution. This image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on July 11, 2002, and shows a thick cloud of emissions packed into the Huang He (Yellow River) valley at the top of the image.
At the southern part of the image, another of China’s large rivers can be seen. The Yangtze River runs roughly west-east through the bottom of the image before emptying its sediment-filled waters into the Huang Hai (Yellow Sea). Numerous fires (red dots) are burning south of the Yangtze.
Please note that the high-resolution scene provided here is 500 meters per pixel. For a copy of the scene at the sensor's fullest resolution, visit the MODIS Rapid Response Image Gallery.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
