28/10/2022
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Extraordinarily excessive temperatures recorded this summer season brought about report melting throughout Svalbard – one of many quickest warming locations on the planet. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captured this uncommon, cloud-free acquisition of the Norwegian archipelago in August 2022.
Click on on the picture beneath to discover it in its full decision.
Positioned north of mainland Europe, Svalbard is round halfway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The archipelago, which spans round 62 700 sq km, consists of 9 principal islands. The most important is Spitsbergen, seen right here within the far-left, adopted by Nordaustlandet within the top-right and Edgeøya within the bottom-right.
Spitsbergen, which is across the identical dimension as Switzerland, has a mountainous terrain with many of the island coated with glaciers. Its highest level is Mount Newton, round 1717 m, within the northeast. The island is deeply indented by fjords. The longest fjord of the archipelago is Wijdefjorden and it’s 108 km lengthy. Opening on Spitsbergen’s north coast, it runs roughly southwards into the inside, separating Andrée Land within the west from Margaretas Land within the east.
Additionally on Spitsbergen lies the Svalbard Satellite tv for pc Station – SvalSat for brief – which could be seen within the picture peeking by way of the clouds. The bottom station, which is operated by Kongsberg Satellite tv for pc Providers (KSAT), has labored with a spread of Earth statement missions together with Aeolus, Swarm, CryoSat and all Copernicus Sentinel satellites.
The station can also be necessary to the Galileo satellite tv for pc navigation system – Europe’s world navigation satellite tv for pc system. Its location makes it one of the crucial distant Galileo floor stations on the planet.
This summer season noticed exceptionally heat air temperatures in Svalbard in line with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. A median of seven.4 °C was recorded in June, July and August in comparison with the 5.5°C common recorded throughout the 1991-2020 interval. The heatwave brought about distinctive ranges of melting, which finally contributes to sea degree rise.
The picture, captured on 21 August, reveals the colorful and enormous sediment discharges within the Arctic Ocean. That is possible resulting from sediments that eroded by the movement of ice after which carried by meltwater into the Arctic Ocean. There’s additionally some phytoplankton current within the waters, as seen within the far proper, which colors the water turquoise and inexperienced.
Knowledge acquired by the Copernicus Sentinel satellites are used to detect adjustments in Earth’s floor in nice element and monitor the consequences of local weather change on distant environments such because the Arctic area.
This picture can also be featured on the Earth from Area video programme.
