December 17, 2008 - New England Ice Storm

New England Ice Storm

A winter storm coated New England states with ice on December 11-12, 2008, cutting off power to more than a million people across New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, and New York, said news reports. The MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite captured these images of the resulting snow and ice after the clouds cleared on December 13.

The main image combines short-wave infrared light with visible light to highlight the ice. In this image, snow is red and orange, while liquid water is black. By the time this image was taken, the top layer of ice was undoubtedly starting to melt, and the resulting watery ice ranges from dark red to black. The icy region extends over parts of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire that did not appear to be affected in the true color image. The normally green-blue tone of plant-covered land is nearly black throughout most of New Hampshire, the state most severely affected by the storm. If you move your mouse over the image, you'll see a photo-like view of the region. Snow dusts a brown landscape, but the damaging ice is not visible.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 12/13/2008
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 7,2,1 and 1,3,4
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC