Spring Equinox

March 20, 2001

Provided by: 0latest2TARGET="_window">NASA/GSFC
Summary authors & editors: Jim Foster

Today, March 20, is the first day of Spring (the Vernal Equinox), and the Sun is directly above the Equator at a point just east of the African continent at 8:31 a.m. Therefore, the Sun's rays fall on both the Arctic and Antarctic regions at the same time. On this FY-2B visible satellite image taken from about 22,000 miles over the Equator, while the Himalayan Mountains are still snow covered, most of China and central Asia are snow free. The cloud masses in the central Indian Ocean are associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The Indian subcontinent, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Burma are mostly cloud free since it's now the dry season in this region - monsoon rains generally arrive in mid June.

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