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Arctic Eclipse
NASA's Terra satellite was r …
8/4/08
Description NASA's Terra satellite was rounding the top of the globe, making its way from the eastern tip of Siberia and across the Arctic Ocean towards northern Norway and northwest Russia, when it captured this unique view of a total solar eclipse on Aug. 1, 2008. The circular disk of the Moon casts an oval-shaped shadow across the left edge of this image. In the region of totality, where the Moon entirely obscures the Sun, the shadow is complete. The edges of the shadow are fuzzy, gradually lightening from black to red, brown, and yellow until the shadow is no longer discernable. In these areas of semi-shadow, the Sun is only partially blocked. On any other day, the photo-like view captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite would be brilliant white since both the ever-present Arctic clouds and the ice that caps the northern sea reflect light. In this image, however, it is as if the world is painted in sepia: the low light casts a yellow-brown glow on much of the scene. The image was captured between 9:35 and 9:45 UTC. In the area shown in the image, the Sun was completely obscured for about two minutes. As Earth rotated, the shadow moved southeast across the surface. At the same time, the satellite crossed the Arctic, its path nearly perpendicular to the eclipse. Because the shadow was moving across Earth's surface as the satellite approached, it has a long oblong shape in this image. In an instantaneous snapshot from a platform that was not moving relative to Earth, the shadow would be more circular. Image credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA's MODIS Rapid Response Team Text credit: Holli Riebeek, NASA's Earth Observatory
Date 8/4/08
Bockfjorden
Title Bockfjorden
Description Far north within the Arctic Circle off the northern coast of Norway lies a small chain of islands known as Svalbard. These craggy islands have been scoured into shape by ice and sea. The effect of glacial activity can be seen in this image of the northern tip of the island of Spitsbergen. Here, glaciers have carved out a fjord, a U-shaped valley that has been flooded with sea water. Called Bockfjorden, the fjord is located at almost 80 degrees north, and it is still being affected by glaciers. The effect is most obvious in this image in the tan layer of silty freshwater that floats atop the denser blue water of the Arctic Ocean. The fresh water melts off land-bound glaciers and flows over the sandstone, collecting fine red-toned silt. In this image, the tan-colored fresh water flows northward up the fjord and is being pushed to the east side of the fjord by the rotation of the Earth. Glaciers here and elsewhere on Spitsbergen are cold bottom glaciers, which means that they are frozen to the ground rather than floating on top of a thin layer of melt water. The glaciers are also land glaciers since their terminus (end) lies on land, rather than floating on the water (a tidewater glacier). Land glaciers grow and retreat slowly, balancing fresh snow with the melting and draining of old ice. Their rate of growth or retreat can be affected by global warming. In most cases, including the glaciers around Bockfjorden, global warming has caused glaciers to retreat from increased melting. On the eastern side of Svalbard, however, glaciers are growing from enhanced snowfall. The reason for this pattern remains only one of many intriguing unanswered questions of Arctic science in the islands. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this false-color image on June 26, 2001. The image was created by combining near-infrared, red, and green wavelenghts (ASTER bands 3, 2, & 1 respectively). NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC [ http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Flooding in Southern Siberia
Title Flooding in Southern Siberia
Description Springtime flooding in southern Siberia is not unusual. Melting snow fills the north-flowing rivers in the south even as upstream sections of the river are still frozen. Floods build up behind dams of ice, or simply build under the fast flow of spring runoff. Spring of 2006 was not exceptional. The Ob River of southern Siberia bulged with melted snow when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on May 7, 2006. A little over two weeks earlier, lower image, the river was still partially frozen, as evidenced by the strips of light blue ice on the river. Snow, pale blue here, was just beginning to melt on April 21. By May 7, most of the snow was gone, and the river had expanded out over its flood plain. Under the clouds along the right edge of the image is the city of Biysk, where 1,350 houses were flooded, according to news reports. Approximately 5,000 people had evacuated from the region. The Ob forms near Biysk where two smaller rivers converge. The smaller rivers flow out of the Altay Mountains of southern Russia and Mongolia near the borders of China and Kazakhstan. From the segment of the river shown here, the Ob will flow 3,700 kilometers (2,260 miles) north to the Kara Sea, a branch of the Arctic Ocean. NASA images created Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC. [ http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]
Flooding on the Lena River, …
Title Flooding on the Lena River, Russia
Description *full-size images:*  May 22, 2001 (1.4 MB)  May 28, 2001 (1.4 MB) What a difference a week can make! This pair of true-color images acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite show the spring thaw and resulting flooding of the Lena River, a principal waterway of eastern Siberia. The first image, acquired on May 22, 2001, shows the Lena as a mostly frozen, white ribbon running north. An eastward flowing tributary, the Vilyuy, also appears frozen. In the second image, taken only 8 days later, large sections of the Lena, as well as the Vilyuy appear to be almost completely thawed. The formerly white ribbon of the river now appears decidedly brown, likely indicating sediment churned up by high water. The region is experiencing its worst flooding in one hundred years, with hundreds of thousands of people being affected by the floodwaters that have resulted from the melting of the snow pack accumulated over a particularly harsh Siberian winter. Explosives are being detonated in many places to dislodge huge blocks of ice that are backing up rivers and exacerbating flooding. The Lena River is one of the longest rivers in the world. It flows northeast and then north from its source in the Baikal Mountains south of the Central Siberian Plateau, and it empties into the Arctic Ocean via the Laptev Sea. At the mouth of the Lena River is a delta that is about 250 miles wide. The delta is frozen tundra for about 7 months of the year, but spring transforms the region into a lush wetland for the remainder of the year. Part of the area is protected as part of the Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://modland.nascom.nasa.gov/ ] Rapid Response Team
Flooding on the Lena River, …
Title Flooding on the Lena River, Russia
Description *full-size images:*  May 22, 2001 (1.4 MB)  May 28, 2001 (1.4 MB) What a difference a week can make! This pair of true-color images acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite show the spring thaw and resulting flooding of the Lena River, a principal waterway of eastern Siberia. The first image, acquired on May 22, 2001, shows the Lena as a mostly frozen, white ribbon running north. An eastward flowing tributary, the Vilyuy, also appears frozen. In the second image, taken only 8 days later, large sections of the Lena, as well as the Vilyuy appear to be almost completely thawed. The formerly white ribbon of the river now appears decidedly brown, likely indicating sediment churned up by high water. The region is experiencing its worst flooding in one hundred years, with hundreds of thousands of people being affected by the floodwaters that have resulted from the melting of the snow pack accumulated over a particularly harsh Siberian winter. Explosives are being detonated in many places to dislodge huge blocks of ice that are backing up rivers and exacerbating flooding. The Lena River is one of the longest rivers in the world. It flows northeast and then north from its source in the Baikal Mountains south of the Central Siberian Plateau, and it empties into the Arctic Ocean via the Laptev Sea. At the mouth of the Lena River is a delta that is about 250 miles wide. The delta is frozen tundra for about 7 months of the year, but spring transforms the region into a lush wetland for the remainder of the year. Part of the area is protected as part of the Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://modland.nascom.nasa.gov/ ] Rapid Response Team
Flooding on the Lena River, …
Title Flooding on the Lena River, Russia
Description *full-size images:*  May 22, 2001 (1.4 MB)  May 28, 2001 (1.4 MB) What a difference a week can make! This pair of true-color images acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite show the spring thaw and resulting flooding of the Lena River, a principal waterway of eastern Siberia. The first image, acquired on May 22, 2001, shows the Lena as a mostly frozen, white ribbon running north. An eastward flowing tributary, the Vilyuy, also appears frozen. In the second image, taken only 8 days later, large sections of the Lena, as well as the Vilyuy appear to be almost completely thawed. The formerly white ribbon of the river now appears decidedly brown, likely indicating sediment churned up by high water. The region is experiencing its worst flooding in one hundred years, with hundreds of thousands of people being affected by the floodwaters that have resulted from the melting of the snow pack accumulated over a particularly harsh Siberian winter. Explosives are being detonated in many places to dislodge huge blocks of ice that are backing up rivers and exacerbating flooding. The Lena River is one of the longest rivers in the world. It flows northeast and then north from its source in the Baikal Mountains south of the Central Siberian Plateau, and it empties into the Arctic Ocean via the Laptev Sea. At the mouth of the Lena River is a delta that is about 250 miles wide. The delta is frozen tundra for about 7 months of the year, but spring transforms the region into a lush wetland for the remainder of the year. Part of the area is protected as part of the Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://modland.nascom.nasa.gov/ ] Rapid Response Team
Flooding on the Ob River
Title Flooding on the Ob River
Description As much a sign of spring as longer days, greening plants, and melting snow, the Ob River had spread across its floodplain in far northern Russia when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on June 20, 2007. The Ob River and its tributary, the Irtysh, together form one of the longest river systems in Asia, flowing from the Altay Mountains of northern China to the Arctic Ocean. The northern reaches of the Ob flow over a flat, permafrost plain. As spring creeps north, the snow that covered northern Russia gradually melts, and the runoff flows into the river. Swollen with spring runoff, the river flows north, where it meets ice jams on sections of the river that have not thawed. Since the river cannot cut deep channels into the frozen land, it flows out over the surrounding plain during the spring melt, creating the wide band of water seen in this image. The lower image shows the Ob River in the fall, immediately before winter secured the region in its frozen grip. The river was a fraction of the size it would be the following spring. Both images were made using a combination of visible and infrared light. Water is black and dark blue. Snow, light blue, dusts the ground south of the Gulf of Ob in the October image and covers the peaks of the Ural Mountains west of the river in the June image. Also in the June image, a smooth pane of ice, also light blue, covers the Gulf of Ob, providing the natural dam that created the floods shown here. Pale blue, frozen lakes dot the permafrost north of the river, and darker, ice-free lakes adorn the land to the south of the river. Plant-covered land is green, and clouds are light blue and white. You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the mouth of the Ob River [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jun2007/ob_tmo_2007171.kmz ] suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA images created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team.
Flooding on the Ob River
Title Flooding on the Ob River
Description As much a sign of spring as longer days, greening plants, and melting snow, the Ob River had spread across its floodplain in far northern Russia when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on June 20, 2007. The Ob River and its tributary, the Irtysh, together form one of the longest river systems in Asia, flowing from the Altay Mountains of northern China to the Arctic Ocean. The northern reaches of the Ob flow over a flat, permafrost plain. As spring creeps north, the snow that covered northern Russia gradually melts, and the runoff flows into the river. Swollen with spring runoff, the river flows north, where it meets ice jams on sections of the river that have not thawed. Since the river cannot cut deep channels into the frozen land, it flows out over the surrounding plain during the spring melt, creating the wide band of water seen in this image. The lower image shows the Ob River in the fall, immediately before winter secured the region in its frozen grip. The river was a fraction of the size it would be the following spring. Both images were made using a combination of visible and infrared light. Water is black and dark blue. Snow, light blue, dusts the ground south of the Gulf of Ob in the October image and covers the peaks of the Ural Mountains west of the river in the June image. Also in the June image, a smooth pane of ice, also light blue, covers the Gulf of Ob, providing the natural dam that created the floods shown here. Pale blue, frozen lakes dot the permafrost north of the river, and darker, ice-free lakes adorn the land to the south of the river. Plant-covered land is green, and clouds are light blue and white. You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the mouth of the Ob River [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jun2007/ob_tmo_2007171.kmz ] suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA images created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team.
Coccolithophores in the Bare …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
The Barents Sea features a s …
Barents.TMO2002234
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2002-08-22
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier Barents.TMO2002234
Flooding on the Ob River: Na …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima …
ob_tmo_2007171
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2007-06-20
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier ob_tmo_2007171
Ward Hunt Ice Shelf: Image o …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima …
Ellesmere.A2002219.2035
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2002-08-07
creator NASA -- Images courtesy Jacques Descloitres, rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Image interpretation provided by Derek Mueller and Warwick Vincent, Centre d'Etudes nordiques, Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada and Martin Jeffries, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska.
identifier Ellesmere.A2002219.2035
Ellesmere Island National Pa …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
The northeastern corner of E …
aster_ellesmere_04aug03
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2003-08-04
creator NASA -- Data made available by NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ASTER Science Team
identifier aster_ellesmere_04aug03
Lena River Delta, Russia: Im …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
After a 4,400-kilometer (2,7 …
ge_07343
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2005-07-16
creator NASA -- Image courtesy of NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and the U.S./Japan asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ASTER Science Team.
identifier ge_07343
Lena River Delta, Russia: Im …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
After a 4,400-kilometer (2,7 …
ge_07343
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2005-07-16
creator NASA -- Image courtesy of NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and the U.S./Japan asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ASTER Science Team.
identifier ge_07343
Flooding on the Lena River, …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
What a difference a week can …
modis_lena_river_flood
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2001-05-22
creator NASA -- Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, modland.nascom.nasa.gov/ MODIS Land Rapid Response Team
identifier modis_lena_river_flood
Clouds over Ice: Image of th …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
In a photo-like satellite im …
ge_07378
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2004
creator NASA -- NASA images by Robert Simmon and Jesse Allen, based on modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ MODIS data.
identifier ge_07378
Clouds over Ice: Image of th …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
In a photo-like satellite im …
ge_07378
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2004
creator NASA -- NASA images by Robert Simmon and Jesse Allen, based on modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ MODIS data.
identifier ge_07378
Clouds over Ice: Image of th …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
In a photo-like satellite im …
ge_07378
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2004
creator NASA -- NASA images by Robert Simmon and Jesse Allen, based on modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ MODIS data.
identifier ge_07378
Clouds over Ice: Image of th …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
In a photo-like satellite im …
ge_07378
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2004
creator NASA -- NASA images by Robert Simmon and Jesse Allen, based on modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ MODIS data.
identifier ge_07378
Flooding in Southern Siberia …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima …
siberia_tmo_2006127
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2006-05-02
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier siberia_tmo_2006127
Mackenzie River Delta, Canad …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
Canada's Mackenzie River, th …
mack_delta_AST2005216
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2005-08-04
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier mack_delta_AST2005216
MISR Sights the Bering Strai …
PIA02638
Sol (our sun)
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR …
Title MISR Sights the Bering Strait
Original Caption Released with Image With the Seward Peninsula of Alaska to the east, and Chukotskiy Poluostrov of Siberia to the west, the Bering Strait separates the United States and the Russian Federation by only 90 kilometers. It is named for Danish explorer Vitus Bering, who spotted the Alaskan mainland in 1741 while leading an expedition of Russian sailors. This view of the region was captured by MISR's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera on August 18, 2000 during Terra orbit 3562. The boundary between the US and Russia lies between Big and Little Diomede Islands, which are visible in the middle of the Bering Strait. The Arctic Circle, at 66.5 degrees north latitude, runs through the Arctic Ocean in the top part of this image. This circle marks the southernmost latitude for which the Sun does not rise above the horizon on the day of the winter solstice. At the bottom of this image is St. Lawrence Island. Situated in the Bering Sea, it is part of Alaska and home to Yupik Eskimos. 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. For more information: http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov
Distinguishing Clouds from I …
PIA03717
Sol (our sun)
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR …
Title Distinguishing Clouds from Ice over the East Siberian Sea, Russia
Original Caption Released with Image As a consequence of its capability to retrieve cloud-top elevations, stereoscopic observations from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) can discriminate clouds from snow and ice. The central portion of Russia's East Siberian Sea, including one of the New Siberian Islands, Novaya Sibir, are portrayed in these views from data acquired on May 28, 2002. The left-hand image is a natural color view from MISR's nadir camera. On the right is a height field retrieved using automated computer processing of data from multiple MISR cameras. Although both clouds and ice appear white in the natural color view, the stereoscopic retrievals are able to identify elevated clouds based on the geometric parallax which results when they are observed from different angles. Owing to their elevation above sea level, clouds are mapped as green and yellow areas, whereas land, sea ice, and very low clouds appear blue and purple. Purple, in particular, denotes elevations very close to sea level. The island of Novaya Sibir is located in the lower left of the images. It can be identified in the natural color view as the dark area surrounded by an expanse of fast ice. In the stereo map the island appears as a blue region indicating its elevation of less than 100 meters above sea level. Areas where the automated stereo processing failed due to lack of sufficient spatial contrast are shown in dark gray. The northern edge of the Siberian mainland can be found at the very bottom of the panels, and is located a little over 250 kilometers south of Novaya Sibir. Pack ice containing numerous fragmented ice floes surrounds the fast ice, and narrow areas of open ocean are visible. The East Siberian Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean and is ice-covered most of the year. The New Siberian Islands are almost always covered by snow and ice, and tundra vegetation is very scant. Despite continuous sunlight from the end of April until the middle of August, the ice between the island and the mainland typically remains until August or September. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer views almost the entire Earth every 9 days. These images were acquired during Terra orbit 12986 and cover an area of about 380 kilometers x 1117 kilometers. They utilize data from blocks 24 to 32 within World Reference System-2 path 117. 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.
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