Arctic Ice Melt Pond — Albedo Feedback from 150m
67.12 د.ك
Arctic sea ice in the summer melt phase photographed from 150 metres — the melt ponds creating a blue-on-white geometry across the sea ice surface, the pond fraction communicating the ice’s thermal state and seasonal decline.
Description
Arctic sea ice melt pond photography from low altitude serves both aesthetic and scientific purposes — the fraction of the ice surface covered by melt ponds is a direct indicator of the ice’s thermal state and is used as an input parameter in climate models. This photograph was made at 150 metres from a research aircraft during a summer ice survey in the Arctic Ocean, capturing a representative section of multi-year sea ice in the melt season. The image shows the full range of melt pond states — freshly formed ponds with sharp blue water contrasting with the white surrounding ice, older ponds that have begun to drain through the ice and show brown sediment at their bases, and coalescent ponds where adjacent ponds have merged. The blue of the melt pond water varies from pale turquoise in the shallowest ponds to deep navy in the deepest, the colour communicating the pond depth as a continuous visual variable.
