Before - February 26, 2011 - "NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response."

After - March 12, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. - "NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response."

The NASA Earth Observatory just released these two satellite images showing the view from space of the Japanese coastline around the city of Sendai. This, as I am sure you know, is the region that was hit on Friday by an offshore earthquake and subsequent tsunami. View some of the scenes which resulted here.

It is quite clear from these images the extent of the movement of water inland as a result of the tsunami. The ‘before’ image (click here for HighRes) clearly shows a clear, well defined coastline whereas the ‘after’ image (click here for HighRes) is less than clear and appears to have been inundated approximately 5km, according to the key provided on the images.

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory:

“Water is black or dark blue in these images. It is difficult to see the coastline in the March 12 image, but a thin green line outlines the shore. This green line is higher-elevation land that is above water, presumably preventing the flood of water from returning to the sea. The flood indicator on the lower image illustrates how far inland the flood extends.

Both images were made with infrared and visible light, a combination that increases the contrast between muddy water and land. Plant-covered land is green, while snow-covered land is pale blue. Clouds are white and pale blue. The paved surfaces in the city of Sendai colors it brown.”

Sandstorm over the Taklamakan Desert | NASA | NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response. http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/

What you are seeing above is a sandstorm hanging over the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in western China, taken by one of NASA’s satellites. To get a really good look at it, click here for the HighRes. The Taklamakan is China’s biggest desert and is an immense sea of shifting sand dunes, which dominates the west of the country.

I was lucky enough to spent a couple of weeks travelling around the Taklamakan desert, as part of my Pulitzer Center sponsored work on desertification in China. The fringes of the desert are most susceptible to desertification, as overgrazing on farmland bordering the desert tends to strip the lands of their grass and hence allows the desert to take hold and expand. It’s a worrying trend which is having serious consequences for the people of this region.

A sandstorm in Ningxia Province, China. 2009

During the spring, winds tend to increase in intensity in the west of China. As the spring winds blow, they pick up the sand and dust lying on top of the degraded land and carry it into the air, creating these massive dust and sand storms.

During my travels in western China, I found myself in a number of these storms. Photographically, they are a challenge as you try to keep your camera equipment safe from the sand. The resulting pictures however are quite spectacular and offer a very surreal viewpoint sometimes, such as the image above.