SPACEPHOTOS

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have used high resolution radar to see, for the first time ever, the development of the Arctic sea ice cover. The images show a comparison of ice growth during the Arctic winter. The two images are separated by nine days. Both images represent an area located in the Baufort Sea, north of the Alaskan coast. This radar view covers an area of 96 by 128 kilometers (60 by 80 miles). The brighter features are older thicker ice and the darker areas show young, recently formed ice. The earlier image is shown on the left. Within the nine-day span, large and extensive cracks in the ice cover have formed due to ice movement. These cracks expose the open ocean to the cold, frigid atmosphere where sea ice grows rapidly and thickens. Formation of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean affects the heat balance in the global atmosphere and ocean. The mission is a joint project between JPL and the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar Facility, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. JPL manages the Sea Ice Thickness Derived from High Resolution Radar Imagery project for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, DC. The Earth Science Enterprise is dedicated to studying how natural and human-induced change affects our global environment.