The Landsat 8 satellite captured a picture of ice formations in the sea near the South Pole. NASA Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens/Landsat 8
A stunning satellite image was recently captured of a breathtaking icescape on the surface of the ocean near Antarctica, thanks to strong winds and unusual ocean currents.
The amazing image was taken by the Operational Land Imager onboard Landsat 8. The picture focuses on a channel of water between the Ronne Ice Shelf and the main ice sheet in the South Pole.
The sea ice is made up of both multiyear ice and first year ice that is fresh. Strong winds have pushed the sea ice far away from the Ronne Ice Shelf. The ice formed between the two larger chunks of ice because of the wider gap. The tendrils are made from nilas, thin sea ice. Frazil ice is the first stage of sea ice growth, and it forms fragile sheets that sit on top of the water. According to a statement from NASA's Earth Observatory, the strong winds prevent the nilas ice from forming into a single sheet and instead push it across the channel's surface.
Landsat satellites take out-of-this-world images of Earth.
The water in the layer of water closest to the surface is likely to spin in small, circular patterns when the wind is strong. In areas where the rotation converges, nilas ice collects and creates light-gray streaks in the dark water.
After being pushed across the channel, the nilas ice can be seen melting into the sea ice. When glaciers and sea ice become so dense that they absorb the longer wavelength of light, they appear blue. nilas ice is very thin and it is unusual to see this color in it.
It's possible that the ice got compressed enough to cause the blue color, but I'm not quite sure how that happens.
Climate change could cause this phenomenon to become more common. The sea ice extent in the ocean around the island was well below average for the time of year when the picture was taken. This type of ice formation may be more common in the future due to the fact that thinner and more fragile sea ice is more susceptible to being moved around by the wind.
Live Science published the original article.
