Images
August 19, 2021 - August in Greenland
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Greenland is the Earth’s largest island, stretching about 1,660 miles (2,670 km) from north to south and more than 650 miles (1,050 km) from east to west at the maximum width. Although it sits in the North Atlantic Ocean, about two-thirds of the landmass lies within the Arctic Circle. With this northerly location, Greenland’s climate is decidedly cold—cold enough to be covered by a vast sheet of ice known as the Greenland Ice Sheet, which covers almost all of the island. Each winter, frigid temperatures and heavy snow turns the entire island white and sea ice clings to the coastline. As temperatures warm, melting takes place across Greenland, melting snow and ice, laying the rugged coastlines bare.
On August 17, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a beautiful false-color image of a fairly late summer day in eastern Greenland. This type of image uses shortwave infrared, near infrared, and red bands (7-2-1) which allows us to view snow and ice as bright blue, cloud as white (or tinted blue, if it is cold enough to contain ice crystals), bare ground as brown or tan, and vegetation as green, and deep water (ocean) as inky-black. A flush of green appears on the coastal soils as a thick cap of cold ice sits inland. Several glaciers extend from the ice cap along fjords to reach the ocean. A few cold, puffy clouds float over the ice cap and warmer (whiter) clouds hang over the North Atlantic Ocean.
While this one image gives a gorgeous snapshot of Greenland at one point in time, in order to appreciate the change in the landscape between winter and late summer it’s helpful to compare two different images taken by the same instrument. Thanks to the NASA Worldview app, it’s very easy to view such a comparison. To see the dramatic change that occurred here between March 14, 2021, and August 17, 2021, click
here.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 8/17/2021
Resolutions:
1km (203.6 KB), 500m (573.7 KB), 250m (1.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Greenland is the Earth’s largest island, stretching about 1,660 miles (2,670 km) from north to south and more than 650 miles (1,050 km) from east to west at the maximum width. Although it sits in the North Atlantic Ocean, about two-thirds of the landmass lies within the Arctic Circle. With this northerly location, Greenland’s climate is decidedly cold—cold enough to be covered by a vast sheet of ice known as the Greenland Ice Sheet, which covers almost all of the island. Each winter, frigid temperatures and heavy snow turns the entire island white and sea ice clings to the coastline. As temperatures warm, melting takes place across Greenland, melting snow and ice, laying the rugged coastlines bare.
On August 17, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a beautiful false-color image of a fairly late summer day in eastern Greenland. This type of image uses shortwave infrared, near infrared, and red bands (7-2-1) which allows us to view snow and ice as bright blue, cloud as white (or tinted blue, if it is cold enough to contain ice crystals), bare ground as brown or tan, and vegetation as green, and deep water (ocean) as inky-black. A flush of green appears on the coastal soils as a thick cap of cold ice sits inland. Several glaciers extend from the ice cap along fjords to reach the ocean. A few cold, puffy clouds float over the ice cap and warmer (whiter) clouds hang over the North Atlantic Ocean.
While this one image gives a gorgeous snapshot of Greenland at one point in time, in order to appreciate the change in the landscape between winter and late summer it’s helpful to compare two different images taken by the same instrument. Thanks to the NASA Worldview app, it’s very easy to view such a comparison. To see the dramatic change that occurred here between March 14, 2021, and August 17, 2021, click here.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 8/17/2021
Resolutions:
1km (203.6 KB), 500m (573.7 KB), 250m (1.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
