Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection
Title:
Icebergs Adrift in the Amundsen Sea
Original Caption Released with Image:
The Thwaites Ice Tongue is a large sheet of glacial ice extending from the West Antarctic mainland into the southern Amundsen Sea. A large crack in the Thwaites Tongue was discovered in imagery from Terra's Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS). Subsequent widening of the crack led to the calving of a large iceberg. The development of this berg, designated B-22 by the National Ice Center, can be observed in these images from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer, also aboard Terra. The two views were acquired by MISR's nadir (vertical-viewing)ca mera on March 10 and 24, 2002.

The B-22 iceberg, located below and to the left of image center, measures approximately 82 kilometers long x 62 kilometers wide. Comparison of the two images shows the berg to have drifted away from the ice shelf edge. The breakup of ice near the shelf edge, in the area surrounding B-22, is also visible in the later image.

These natural-color images were acquired during Terra orbits 11843 and 12047, respectively. At the right-hand edge is Pine Island Bay, where the calving of another large iceberg (B-21) occurred in November 2001. B-21 subsequently split into two smaller bergs, both of which are visible to the right of B-22.

Antarctic researchers have reported an increase in the frequency of iceberg calvings in recent years. Whether this is the result of a regional climate variation, or connected to the global warming trend, has not yet been established.

MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.
Image Credit:
NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team
Produced By:
JPL
Mission:
Earth Observing System (EOS)
Spacecraft:
Terra
Target Name:
Earth
Is a satellite of:
Sol (our sun)
Instrument:
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)
Product Size:
1017 samples x 1444 lines
Primary Data Set:
MISR
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Terra
facet_what:
Earth Observing System
facet_what:
EOS
facet_what:
MISR
facet_what:
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
Amundsen Sea
facet_where:
California
facet_where:
Washington
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Langley Research Center (LaRC)
facet_when:
November 2001
facet_when_year:
2001
Image #:
PIA03700
UID:
SPD-PHOTJ-PIA03700
orignial url:

Icebergs Adrift in the Amundsen Sea