December 21, 2022 - Clouds against the Mountains of Taiwan

Clouds
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Taiwan has been called an “uptilted chunk of land tossed into the
Pacific athwart the Tropic of Cancer and between the East China and
South China Seas”. It is also famous for its widespread and frequent
“sea of clouds”, where mountain peaks poke above a flat-topped, yet
continually flowing, mass of white which spreads as far as the eye can
see.

On December 20, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image a
large bank of cloud covering the eastern half of Taiwan, and butting up
against the tall peaks of the Central Mountain Range (Chung Yang
Range). The eastern half of the country is rugged and often
cloud-covered, with mountains reaching almost to the ocean in several
locations. More than 200 peaks in this range rise greater than 3,000
meters (9,843 feet).

Surrounded by several ocean currents and high humidity, clouds are the
norm on the eastern side of Taiwan. They are especially common in the
early morning when temperatures begin to decrease in the autumn, and
the sight is popular with tourists. Cloud-watching on the mountains is
encourage. In October, local news media reported “Sea of clouds season
coming to Taiwan’s Alishan” and that the Forestry Bureau invites the
public to “enjoy magnificent sunrises, sunsets”. Alishan National
Scenic Area sits in the mountains in south-central Taiwan and one of
the popular viewing areas to enjoy the cloudy spectacle from land.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 12/20/2022
Resolutions: 1km (148.6 KB), 500m (407.4 KB), 250m (293.1
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=2022-12-21

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