Greenland (Denmark) - MERIS - 17 May 2002

This image shows the Easter coast of Greenland, the largest island in the world.

Its centre is a huge plateau of ice of with a maximum thickness estimated to more than 3 km. It constitutes an important water reservoir for the planet.

On this image, the near infrared channel (865 nm) of MERIS enables a clear separation of atmospheric features ( the red hues) and ice feature ( the green hues). Along the coast, the currents create vortexes in the melting ice sheet.

Technical Information:
Instrument: MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS)
Date of Acquisition: 17 May 2002
Orbit number: 01109
Instrument features: Reduced Resolution image (1200-meter resolution). Three-color image generated using the reflectances at the wavelengths 865, 560 and 442.5 nanometres.