Source:http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/viewImage.php?id=110 archive copy at the Wayback Machine

Updated Link to Source:https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/5103/haze-and-smog-over-india

Description: This image, taken by Terra/MODIS instrument on December 17, 2004 shows thick haze and smoke along the Ganges Basin in northern India. Major sources of aerosols in this area are believed to be smoke from biomass burning in the northwest part of India, and air pollution from large cities in northern India. Dust from deserts in Pakistan and the Middle East may also contribute to the mix of aerosols. The average wind is directed to blow aerosols along the steep hillside of the Tibetan Plateau, to the eastern part of India and the Bay of Bengal.

Dust and black carbon, which are blown towards higher altitudes by winds at the southern slope of the Himalayas, can absorb shortwave radiation and form elevated heat sources over the Tibetan Plateau. The net atmospheric heating due to aerosol absorption causes the air to warm and rise, increasing the concentration of moisture in the mid-troposphere, and providing a positive feedback to the aerosol heating. A recent modeling study shows that upper tropospheric heating over the Tibetan Plateau induced by absorbing aerosols in late spring and early summer can induce an early onset and subsequent intensification of the Indian summer monsoon.

(Submitted by William K-M Lau)

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