Another from NASA's Earth Observatory. This is temporal comparison image is both beautiful and concerning. Not the sky blue ice changes - melted water that is re-absorbed into the surrounding ice pack.
download large image (2 MB, JPEG) acquired December 13, 2008
download large image (3 MB, JPEG) acquired January 2, 2009
Quick "Cut & Paste" Highlights:
" .... Changing weather conditions left their mark on sea ice along the Antarctic Peninsula in late 2008 and early 2009. In mid-December 2008, melt water resting on the sea ice colored it sky blue. At the beginning of 2009, however, the sea ice appeared snowy white, and cracks had begun along the ice margin. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured these images on December 13, 2008 (top), and January 2, 2009 (bottom). Both images show the northern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula.... "
" .... In the image acquired on January 2, the sky-blue hue is gone, indicating that the melt water had either drained through cracks in the ice, or refrozen. The full-resolution image of this scene shows the formation of new sea ice in areas to the south, suggesting that refrozen sea ice is more likely. A storm or cold front passing through the region could drop temperatures just enough to form new sea ice. Although the melt water was gone, the sea ice was cracked, and several fissures appeared along the northeastern ice edge ..... "
Full Article - click here
Credits:
State of the Cryosphere. (2008, November 14). Ice Shelves. National Snow and Ice Data Center. Accessed January 8, 2009.
State of the Cryosphere. (2008, November 26). Sea Ice. National Snow and Ice Data Center. Accessed January 8, 2009.
NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott, based on image interpretation by Terry Haran and Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Instrument:
Terra - MODIS
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