Fibers of sea ice can be seen following ocean currents and forming swirls along the coast of eastern Canada’s Labrador province. A dazzling display of frozen ocean water was captured by satellite sensors and astronauts on the International Space Station.
As sea ice in far northern latitudes approaches its annual maximum extent, modis NASA’s (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Instrument Terra A satellite captured this image of the Labrador Sea on February 3, 2024. Located between Canada’s Labrador Peninsula and Greenland, this ocean is part of the North Atlantic Ocean and is connected to the Arctic Ocean through various northern straits and bays. Swirls of smaller pieces of sea ice stirred along the crumbling edges of ice packs that solidified further offshore. labrador inuit landin Newfoundland and Labrador.
Ocean currents can stir up ice blocks and create circular eddies. swirl. Eddies frequently form along the boundaries of cold and warm currents in spring and fall due to differences in water density. But still, ice vortices do not form except under certain conditions. That is, it must be warm enough for the ice to break and cold enough for it to remain frozen.
The International Space Station gives astronauts the opportunity to observe processes that cannot be seen from the ground. The swirling ice vortex caught the eye of an astronaut on the station, who took the photo below on the same day that NASA’s MODIS Terra satellite took the image above. The view from this side, or edge, of the Earth in the astronaut’s photo shows an ice vortex in the center and part of the planet’s atmosphere (blue) in the upper right.
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, sea ice is increasing across the Arctic region, including the Labrador Sea. slower than usual Towards the end of January. The Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, would normally have more sea ice at this time of year. However, as of late January, the area was mostly open water.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS Lance and GIBS/Worldview.astronaut photo ISS070-E-86805 This image was acquired on February 3, 2024 with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a 135-millimeter lens and provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observation Facility and the Johnson Space Center Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit.The image was taken by a member Crew of the 70th Expedition. Images have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast and lens artifacts have been removed.of international space station program We will support the laboratory as part of ISS National Laboratory To enable astronauts to take the most valuable photographs of Earth to scientists and the general public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and astronauts can be viewed at NASA/JSC. An introduction to Earth photography by astronauts. The story of Emily Cassidy.
