August 3, 2009 - Novaya Zemlya, Northern Russia

Novaya Zemlya

Novaya Zemlya is an archipelago of islands in northern Russia. The archipelago consists of two large islands and several smaller ones. The long strip of land you see in this image is actually two islands; they are separated from each other by the narrow Matochkin Strait. The strait is barely visible in this image because of ice and snow, but you can see it about 2/3 of the way down the length of the islands. The northern island is called Severny and the southern one is Yuzhny.

The archipelago is in the Arctic Ocean, in the north of Russia, and also serves as the separation between the Barents (west) and Kara (east) Seas. The interior of the both islands is mountainous- the northern island, which is white and snowy in the satellite image, is covered by glaciers while the southern island is covered by tundra.

This image was captured by the MODIS on the Terra satellite on July 27, 2009.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 07/27/2009
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC