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Where is it?Kashmir Valley , in the Himalayas
What ’s in the photo?A massive swarm of haze model in the valley
The Kashmir Valley filled with a heavily polluted hazy cloud on Dec. 5, 2014.
Which satellite have the photo?NASA ’s Terra orbiter
When was it taken?Dec . 5 , 2014
A jumbo swarm of haze frequently fills this ancient valley at the foot of the Himalayas , which was once an tremendous freshwater lake . Although the stunning spectacle results from a rude phenomenon , this particular good example was because of human activity .
The Kashmir Valley is a large bowl-like ravine at the base of the Himalayas.
The Kashmir Valley is a large , bowling ball - like ravine that ’s around 84 miles ( 135 kilometers ) long and 20 mile ( 32 km ) wide . It is surrounded by mountains on all sides , include voice of the Himalayas to the north , Confederacy and west . The floor of the vale is around 6,000 ft ( 1,800 measure ) above ocean level , on average , but some of the surrounding peaks hulk up to 4,000 feet ( 1,200 m ) above the valley ’s base .
Until around 4.5 million years ago , the Kashmir Valley was a massive fresh water lake , according toNASA ’s Earth Observatory . Today , the only evidence of the lake is the bowl - like shape of the valley and the sandy , clay - like sediment across the valley ’s floor .
But under certain condition , gargantuan cloud of daze can form there , filling the space once occupied by water . This daze , which is unremarkably made from mist and fog , forms when affectionate air passes over coolheaded ground , know as a temperature inversion , which traps water vapour between the two . Once it has form , the haze is hold in within the valley by the tall skirt peak , sometimes for days on last .
Temperature inversions frequently occur in the winter , when the ground is cool . They are more likely to fall out when snow is on the primer , like the gunpowder visible around the brim of the valley in this picture .
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However , in this case , only a small percent of the fog was mist or murk . Instead , most of the cloud comprise of contamination from nearby infrastructure . Multiple planet detected high levels ofair pollutionon the Clarence Day this photo was taken , according to the Earth Observatory . Most of this befoulment likely came from charcoal production factories and biomass - burning power plants , which leave the surrounding area with electrical energy .
Although the Kashmir Valley is no longer a lake , it is still home to several smaller lakes disperse around the floor of the jolting trough . However , these lakes are also feel the outcome of man - pertain stressor .
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Satellite imagerytaken over the past few yearsshows that most of the valley ’s lakes are suffering from " eutrophication . " During this operation , an overabundance of nutrients enters the local waterways as a result of urbanization , triggering algal blooms and an explosion of works life on the control surface of these lake that then starve the waters below of oxygen and make them toxic to most aquatic life .
The vale ’s large body of water , Wular Lake , has sustain eutrophication across more than half of its water at various points over the past decade , which has drastically lose weight its biodiversity .
The extra nutrients are entering the lake because the ring timber have been cleared for roadstead , houses and farmland .
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