Two images of Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica show the
recently discovered 25-kilometer-long (15-mile) crack that
scientists expect will turn into a large iceberg within the
next 18 months. The views from NASA’s Multi-angle Imaging
SpectroRadiometer (MISR) also reveal differences in the ice
sheet’s surface texture, highlighting surface fractures and
enabling distinction of rough crevasses from smooth blue ice.
The images are available at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/misr .
More information about the discovery of the Pine Island
crack can be found in a NASA press release at
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-050.txt .
MISR, built and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
is one of several Earth-observing experiments aboard NASA’s
Terra satellite, which was launched in December 1999. MISR
acquires images of the Earth at nine angles simultaneously,
using nine separate cameras pointed forward, downward, and
backward along its flight path. More information about MISR is
available at http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov .
The MISR team updates the images on the Web site every
week and invites the public to make suggestions by e-mail at
suggestions@mail-misr.jpl.nasa.gov.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.
