April 19, 2015 - Sea Ice and Cloud Streets in the Labrador Sea

Sea Ice and Cloud Streets in the Labrador Sea

On April 9, 2015, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of sea ice and cloud streets between Labrador (Canada) and Greenland.

The Davis Strait lies between Greenland (right) and Baffin Island (upper left in this image), and connects the Labrador Sea in the south with Baffin Bay to the north. Two different currents, each a different temperature, flow through the Strait and the temperature differential affects the formation of sea ice on each side of the passage. Sea ice clings to the western side of the Strait, under the cold Labrador Current. Off Greenland’s coast, the accumulation of sea ice is much less, thanks to the effect of the warmer, northward flowing North Atlantic Drift.

A bank of clouds hangs over Baffin Island, in the northwest. Over the Labrador Sea a different cloud formation has formed. The parallel lines are known as cloud streets, and are aligned in the direction of the steady, low level wind.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 4/9/2015
Resolutions: 1km (1016.8 KB), 500m (3.6 MB), 250m (8.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC