Development of Environmental Dataset of Taklamakan Desert by TERRA/AQUA MODIS Data

摘要

The images of huge fixed type longitudinal sand dunes of eastern Taklamakan Desert acquired with Terra and Aqua MODIS indicate non negligible difference due to influence of solar illumination angles resulting from 70 minutes observation time difference in late Autumn. Analyses of the images of the same sand dunes acquired with Terra MODIS and JERS-1 OPS indicate significant difference due to spatial resolution difference (250 m vs. 18 m). The OPS image shows that when a large longitudinal sand dune grows to a certain size in width then it begins to split The space and height of huge longitudinal sand dunes in the eastern Taklamkan Desert derived from the OPS image is about 2 km and 120 m in average respectively. The OPS image also clearly shows influences of the Hotien River and Ma2artag mountain range on sand dunes of the area. In the north side of the Mazartag mountain range are transversal dunes in the west and compound (pyramidal, transversal and longitudinal) dunes in the eastern part while in the south side are longitudinal dunes. There is a good correspondence between the orientation of the huge fixed type longitudinal sand dunes and the direction of the monthly maximum winds of the sand storm months.