ASTER image of Petermann Glacier and an ice island

This ASTER image acquired August 11, 2010, shows a massive ice island dominating the center of the image that had broken off of the Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland on August 5, 2010. This false-color image of the ice island displays ice in light blue, water as nearly black, and clouds as nearly white. Although a bank of thin clouds hovers over the fjord, the southernmost margin of the ice island is still visible. Toward the north, the leading edge of the ice island retains the same shape it had days earlier, at the time of the initial calving. ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) is an instrument, resulting from a U.S. and Japanese partnership, that is aboard NASA's Terra satellite. The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center houses NASA's LP DAAC, which archives and distributes ASTER data. Image courtesy of NASA.