Washington: In a latest, the US space agency NASA has released a new satellite image that shows bits and pieces of ice floating about in the Greenland Sea.
The true-color image of sea ice off Greenland was obtained by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 16, 2015.
As the northern hemisphere experiences the heat of summer, ice moves and melts in the Arctic waters and the far northern lands surrounding it, said NASA.
“Large chunks of melting sea ice can be seen in the sea ice off the coast, and to the south spirals of ice have been shaped by the winds and currents that move across the Greenland Sea.
Frigid air from interior Greenland pushes the ice away from the shoreline, and the mixing of cold water and air allows some sea ice to be sustained even at the height of summer,” added NASA.
According to NASA, 2015 is on track to be another low year for arctic summer sea ice cover based on observations from satellites.
It said that the past ten years have included nine of the lowest ice extents on record.
As global temperatures rise, the amount of Arctic sea ice cover has been dropping. The Arctic is two to three times more sensitive to temperature changes as the Earth as a whole.
The Aqua spacecraft is part of a mission by NASA to contribute to the US Global Change Research Program.
(Source: NASA)
