On the Edge

The edge of sea ice in Davis Strait between Baffin Island and Greenland is seen in this image from NASA's Terra Satellite. (Image: NASA) During one of my regular remote sensing ramblings around the globe using NASA's interactive Worldview web site, I spotted this scene and found it so compelling that I thought I'd share it. The image is based on data from NASA's Terra satellite. It shows the fjords of western Greenland on the right , and the filagreed edge of Arctic sea ice on the left. The dark body of water in between is Davis Strait between Baffin Island in Canada and Greenland. Graphically, I find it quite spectacular. But there's more to it than aesthetics. The extent of the sea ice in this region — as in the Arctic region overall — is less than the long-term average for this time of year. Ordinarily, it would fill ...