Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers from Sentinel-1A

Acquired on 13 April 2014 at 09:03 GMT (11:03 CEST) this image covers parts of Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. It is among the first from Sentinel-1A, which was launched on 3 April. It was acquired in ‘Interferometric Wide Swath’ mode with a swath width of 250 km and in single polarisation. With Pine Island Glacier in a state of irreversible retreat, the Sentinel-1 mission is set to be an excellent tool for monitoring such glaciers as well as for providing timely information on many other aspects of the polar regions, such as sea ice and icebergs.