Sea Ice Swirls

Fragments of sea ice tumble and swirl in this satellite image of Greenland’s east coast. In spring, Arctic sea ice journeys down the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard. Along the way, large ice floes break — and melt — into smaller pieces. Large pieces of sea ice are visible closer to the coastline, but the smaller individual floes get, the wispier they appear in the satellite image. In the haziest portions of the image, the ice may be only meters across. In recent years, less and less Arctic sea ice has survived the journey southward, shifting the temperature and salinity of Arctic contributions to global ocean circulation. (Image credit: W. Liang; via NASA Earth Observatory)