NASA On Air: Melt Ponds—Mother Nature’s Artwork (8/7/2014)

  • Released Thursday, August 7, 2014

LEAD: NASA is exploring the climate effects of Mother Nature’s artwork in the Arctic.

  1. This Alaskan glacier melt pond is the size of 3 football fields.

  2. The Caribbean-like turquoise blue color comes from the ice below.

  3. Similar melt ponds on the Arctic sea ice grow during the summer since the blue water absorbs sunshine.

  4. Ponds can cover nearly half of Arctic ice.

TAG: NASA’s specially instrumented U-2, flying at 65,000 feet, is measuring this summer how these melt ponds effect the warming processes
of the Arctic.



Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Release date

This page was originally published on Thursday, August 7, 2014.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:50 PM EDT.