Jump to content

File:2011 Winter in Alaska.jpg

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Original file (5,600 × 4,000 pixels, file size: 4.96 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description
English: From an altitude of 705 kilometres, the biting cold and snowy hassle of winter melts away and is replaced by minimalist beauty. The clouds that normally shroud much of the Arctic clears to unveil a snow-bound Alaska.

On the ground, snow is an equalizer: It covers everything uniformly in a blanket of white. But from space, snow is a revealer. Subtle variations in colour and texture highlight Alaska’s rugged topography and primary ecosystems.

Inland, the vast boreal forest is dark, coloured by evergreen trees that shed snow from their tall, conical forms. The treeless tundra, on the other hand, is bright white. The low shrubs and mosses on the tundra—along the coast and above the tree line in the mountains—do not break through the snow, so the landscape is an unrelieved white except for the slender rivers winding across the landscape.

Winter white extends to the ocean. Land-bound ice swells the coast, temporarily claiming the ocean for the land. The shadow of the summer coastline, where land meets sea ice, traces a faint outline—a hint of gray—between stark white sea ice and equally white coastal tundra. A brown and green channel of semi-open water separates the continent from the ice-choked Bering Sea. Moving away from land, ice creeps across the open sea in wisps and curls that resemble foamy froth.

Beyond the clutches of ice, the Bering Sea shows signs of turbulence and the dark waters swirl with vibrant green. Such colour often points to phytoplankton, but this burst of colour could also be sediment brought to the surface by powerful waves spawned by winter storms.

The view spans about 980 km (610 mi) north to south, centred on a latitude of c. 59° N.
Date
Source NASA Earth Observatory
Author Jeff Schmaltz

Image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. Image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team.

Assessment

Wikipedia

 This is a featured picture on the English language Wikipedia (Featured pictures) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here.
 This is a featured picture on the Persian language Wikipedia (نگاره‌های برگزیده) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here.

If you think this file should be featured on Wikimedia Commons as well, feel free to nominate it.
If you have an image of similar quality that can be published under a suitable copyright license, be sure to upload it, tag it, and nominate it.

Licensing

Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
Warnings:

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

12 January 2011

image/jpeg

cc9491e794219bc3e3dd3d4197117f31c6e290f2

5,203,373 byte

4,000 pixel

5,600 pixel

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current13:22, 10 February 2011Thumbnail for version as of 13:22, 10 February 20115,600 × 4,000 (4.96 MB)Originalwana{{Information |Description ={{en|1=From an altitude of 705 kilometres, the biting cold and snowy hassle of winter melts away and is replaced by minimalist beauty. The clouds that normally shroud much of the [

Global file usage