August 15, 2008
Beijing Olympics: Gold and Silver and Blue Skies..
After several cloudy days, the air really cleared up in Beijing producing beautiful blues skies and PM10 air pollution index readings in the range of 10-25 (Source: Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. This reduced API is really obvious in the Asia Society's Room With A View website, where their photographer has been taking a picture out her window every day; click on Enter to get into the site, then click on the one for today (15 August) to see how clear it is. (Thanks for the link, Rich!)
MODIS Aqua (left) shows those clear skies, where it is possible to see the land surface clearly, unlike previous days. The MODIS Terra aerosol optical depth values are in the 0.1 range, indicating very good conditions (credit for AOD to NOAA NESDIS and H. Zhang).
Meanwhile, Malaysian badminton shuttler, Lee Chong Wei, is in the finals against China. This guarantees Chong Wei a silver and a good chance at the first ever Olympic gold medal for Malaysia. Go Chong Wei! (Oh and that Michael Phelps guy is up to 6 golds, in case you hadn't heard...)
