February 19, 2023 - Low Ice Cover on the Great Lakes

Great Lakes
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So far this winter, the Great Lakes have been unusually ice-free. As of
February 14, 2023, ice covered only 6.6 percent of the five freshwater
lakes, which is significantly less than the 35-40 percent ice cover
that is typical for mid-February, according to data published by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Great Lakes
Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL). The ice cover on February 13
was only 7 percent—the lowest ice cover measured on that date of any
year since 1973, when satellite-based record keeping began.

When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of part of the
Great Lakes, cold air temperatures had brought the total ice cover up
to 8.3 percent. What little ice is present skirts the coastlines of the
lakes, and a strip of ice covers Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay. In Lake
Erie, sediment swirls kicked up by storms and waves, mixed with colors
of floating phytoplankton, give the water a marble-like look.

Air temperatures are the main factor affecting ice cover on the Great
Lakes. According to the U.S. National Ice Center, each of the five
lakes experienced warmer than average air temperatures in January 2023.
The average temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 35.2 degrees
Fahrenheit (5.1 degrees above average) according to NOAA, making
January 2023 the sixth-warmest January on record.

Ice extent across the Great Lakes Basin briefly jumped to 21 percent in
early February in response to a cold snap. But since then, it has
declined through at least mid-February. Maximum ice cover typically
occurs between mid-February and early March.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 2/14/2023
Resolutions: 1km (574.2 KB), 500m (1.6 MB), 250m (1.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-02-19

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