File:Gobi Desert (MODIS 2017-08-22).jpg

English: The Gobi Desert stretches over approximately 500,000 square miles (13 million square km) over China and Mongolia. The name has been translated as “waterless place” or “very large and dry” in Mongolian – and the desert is both vast as well as very arid. The average annual precipitation across the entire desert region is only about 7.6 inches (194 mm), with the heaviest rain falling on the steppes on the edges of the desert. The desert is also a land of extreme temperatures. Known as a “cold” desert, lows of -40°F (-40°C) have been recorded in the dead of winter, while summer temperatures can soar to 40°C (104°F) or more. On August 13, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the Gobi Desert. Camel-colored sandy regions can be seen near the center of the image. Outside of the sand dunes, the desert is filled with nearly barren rocky outcrops and gravel plains, which appear as various colors of tan. Where precipitation is adequate – mostly outside the Desert - vegetation appears green. This can be seen in the Qilian Mountains in the southwest and in the Yellow River Valley to the southeast. The blue of Qinghai Lake can be seen in the mountains.