Off the coast of Greenland lies an island resembling a bony claw. Long connected to Greenland’s coast by ice, the island escaped recognition for what it was for nearly a century.
Fifty-six images were stitched together to present a seamless mosaic of what the newest Landsat saw on April 19, 2013. Here are some highlights of the satellite tour.
Akpatok Island lies in Ungava Bay in northern Quebec, Canada. Accessible only by air, Akpatok Island rises out of the water as sheer cliffs that soar 500 to 800 feet (150 to 243 m) above the sea surface. The island is an important sanctuary
for cliff-nesting seabirds.
The ghostly white shapes northeast and immediately southwest of Wrangel Island are sea ice. Over the course of the satellite record, Arctic sea ice has advanced and retreated past Wrangel Island many times. From 1979 to 2000, the sea ice edge at the end of summer generally fell somewhere in the vicinity of Wrangel Island, but this is not the first summer when the sea ice edge has retreated well north of the island.
Taken on June 10, 2010, this true-color image captures the western Canadian Arctic in a moment of transformation. Signs of winter are still present, but summer is clearly on the horizon.