China Dust Storm during April 2001 (WMS)

  • Released Monday, June 14, 2004
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A major dust storm occurred in April 2001 over parts of China and Mongolia. Dust from this storm was transported all the way to the coast of the United States. Although dust from the Sahara Desert is routinely transported across the Atlantic to the east coast of the United States, Asian dust rarely makes the distance across the Pacific to the west coast. These airborne microscopic dust and smoke particles, or aerosols, were measured by the TOMS instrument on the Earth Probe satellite. For governments struggling to meet national air quality standards, knowing more about the sources and movement of pollution across national borders has become an important issue.

This animation shows the concentration of dust in the atmosphere during April 2001 when a massive dust storm crossed the Pacific from China and Mongolia to the United States.

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Legend for the China Dust Storm animation.

Legend for the China Dust Storm animation.

For More Information

See http://toms.gsfc.nasa.gov/aerosols/aerosols.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Monday, June 14, 2004.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.

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