March 13, 2023 - Cloud Streets and Sea Ice off Eastern Greenland

Sea ice
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Despite the approach of spring, with lengthening days and warming
temperatures, on March 10, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) acquired a true-color image of a very wintery
scene across eastern Greenland. The combination of snow, sea ice, and
cloud streets is a hallmark of frigid, windy days.

The rugged terrain of central Greenland’s central coast is covered with
ice, snow, and glaciers. The edge of the land itself has been marked
with a gray boundary line, making it easier to see where the land ends
and fast ice (ice which clings to the land) begins. In some areas, the
sheet of fast ice is broken into chunks or, where it is starting to
melt and becoming waterlogged, takes on a gray appearance.

Just past the edge of the ice, clouds line up in parallel rows that arc
to the southeast. Called “cloud streets”, because they look something
like giant highways crossing the sky, this feature is formed when
strong winds blow across a frigid surface and then over warmer waters,
especially when a warmer air layer (a temperature inversion) rests over
the top of both. The comparatively warm water gives up heat and
moisture to the cold air, leading columns of heated air (thermals) to
rise through the atmosphere.

The warm air in the temperature inversion acts like a lid such that the
moist, rising thermals hit the air mass above and roll over on
themselves. This creates parallel horizontal cylinders of rotating air.
On the upward side of the cylinders (rising air), the moisture cools
and condenses into flat-bottomed, fluffy-topped cumulus clouds that
line up parallel to the direction of the wind. Along the downward side
(descending air), clouds remain thin, creating the thick-thin-thick
cloud pattern, as seen in this image.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 3/10/2023
Resolutions: 1km (683.7 KB), 500m (1.8 MB), 250m (3.7 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=2023-03-13

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