2007 Greenland Melt Season Study
- Visualizations by:
- Cindy Starr
- View full credits
This animation displays these two geophysical data products of the Greenland ice sheet side-by-side, showing MODIS data on the left side and QuikSCAT data on the right. The 2007 melt season is shown twice. In the first sequence, MODIS surface temperature is compared with several categories of QuikSCAT melt between March 15th and October 13th, 2010. During this sequence, active melt detected by QuikSCAT is shown in light blue, reduced melt is medium blue, and completed melt is dark blue. For the MODIS, surface temperature is shown with the color scale — red indicates a surface temperature greater than -1 degree Celsius. As MODIS shows warmer surface temperature as the melt season progresses, QuikSCAT consistently identifies the corresponding melt.
In the second sequence, the MODIS and QuikSCAT melted regions of the ice sheet were accumulated during the melt season. QuikSCAT captures melt earlier, and then melt is detected by MODIS shortly afterward at a higher spatial resolution. The final result (frame) shows the seasonal melt extent which was consistently delineated by both sensors. The cross-verification of these independent measurements, by two different instruments on different satellites, provides a higher confidence level in the melt observations, reducing the uncertainty in climate assessment of Greenland melt.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Visualizer
- Cindy Starr (GST) [Lead]
Scientists
- Dorothy Hall (NASA/GSFC)
- Son Nghiem (NASA/JPL CalTech)
Datasets used in this visualization
Terra Land Surface Temperature (Collected with the MODIS sensor)
QuikSCAT QuikSCAT Detection of Snowmelt on the Greenland Ice Sheet (Collected with the SeaWinds sensor)
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.