December 8, 2021 - Ship Tracks over the Pacific Ocean
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Ship Tracks in the Pacific Ocean
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On December 6, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
captured a startling true-color image of what appeared to be long white
slashes in the clouds over the North Pacific Ocean. While the imagery
looks dramatic, the long white streaks are merely clouds created by the
exhaust of many ships as they cross the ocean.
The shipping lane across the North Pacific Ocean is one of the widest
and busiest on Earth, as goods are exchanged between Japan and Eastern,
in the west, and Canada, the West Coast of the United States, Mexico,
and Central America. As the ships motor across the ocean, they release
exhaust that contain a variety of substances, including very small
particles. Some of these particles (especially sulfates) are soluble in
water and serve as the seeds around which cloud droplets form. Clouds
infused with ship exhaust have more and smaller droplets than
unpolluted clouds. As a result, the light hitting the polluted clouds
scatters in many directions, making them appear especially bright and
thick.
Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 12/6/2021
Resolutions: 1km (2 MB), 500m (5.3 MB), 250m (4.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-12-08
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