January 14, 2021 - Freeze-up on the Tibetan Plateau

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   -Freezing Tibetan Lakes
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   Sapphire and silver colored the tan Tibetan Plateau in mid-January
   2021. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
   board NASA’s Terra satellite captured a true-color image of freeze-up
   on the Tibetan Plateau on January 13.

   The high-altitude plateau, which is sometimes called “The Roof of the
   World”, is home to more than 1,500 large and small lakes. The area is
   also the source of many of Asia’s major rivers, including the
   Brahmaputra, Indus, Ganges, Salween (Nu Jiang), Mekong (Lancang Jiang),
   Yangtze (Chang Jiang), and Yellow (Huang He) Rivers. Lakes on the
   Tibetan Plateau start to freeze between October and December, and some
   may stay iced-over until May. The rate at which the individual lakes
   freeze over depends on many things, including water depth, salinity,
   and location. By January 13, most of the northern lakes carry a silvery
   sheen of ice while the southern ones remain open and appear sapphire
   blue.

   It is often informative to view the change in ice cover over time. The
   NASA Worldview app allows a comparison between MODIS images captured
   different dates. To view the evolution of the ice on the high-altitude
   lakes between December 28, 2020 and January 13, 2021, click  here.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 1/13/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (55.3 KB),  500m (193.2 KB),  250m (575.8
   KB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-01-14
 
