NASA MODIS Image of the Day: December 11, 2011 – Europe
On December 9, 2011 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite flew over southern Europe and captured this true-color image of an early winter day across the region.
Snow and clouds cover northern Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo in the north as well as Turkey in the southeast.
Bulgaria, most of Macedonia, southern Albania and Greece remain snow-free, except for the highest mountain peaks. The island of Crete, in the far south of the image, is also dotted with clouds and has a small amount of snow on the mountains. The Ionian Sea (west of Greece), the Aegean Sea (east of Greece) and the Mediterranean Sea (south) all appear to be streaked with thin layers of haze or dust in various locations. Several plumes of what appears to be dust rise from southern Crete and spread over the Mediterranean Sea. The climate of Southern Crete is generally hot, dry and sunny and resembles the coastal regions of North Africa in both heat and aridity, and just as in Africa, dust can be blown by strong winds.
