Stunning Icy Landscape Photographed During NASA Flight
by OurAmazingPlanet staff
Scientists aboard a recent NASA research flight over Greenland snapped a picture of a sparkling blue pond along the ice-bound island’s rugged coastline.
The image was taken on May 7 over Greenland’s northeastern coast as part of NASA’s Operation IceBridge, a mission that sends flights above both the Arctic and the Antarctic to measure changes in ice and map the bedrock that lies hidden below it.
The campaign kicked off in 2009 to fill an observational void created when an ice-measuring satellite powered down, and while its successor, ICESat-2, is prepared for launch in 2016.
The pond was likely created by melting ice and snow. Researchers keep a close eye on the liquid water that appears on Greenland’s massive ice sheet, because it can sometimes be a sign of more dramatic changes with wide-ranging effects…
(read more: OurAmazingPlanet) (image: NASA)
