This is a combination of two of the first images acquired by Envisat - an Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) image of 18 March 2002, and a MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) image taken on 23 March 2002.

Scientists estimate that the Larsen B ice shelf, which collapsed in spring 2002, had been stable since the last ice age 12 000 years ago – ice dynamic studies suggest it will take several hundred years of colder weather to completely rebuild it. What is more likely is that warming will continue, possibly reaching further south to affect the so-far stable Larsen C Ice Shelf. Envisat is particularly well suited to continue observing this remote, usually cloud-covered region.

This combined ASAR and MERIS image shows cloud cover over the Peninsula, and how the ASAR pierces through it for weather-independent observation of the ice shelves. Existing ice shelves can also play an important role for the production of deep water known to take place in the Weddel Sea. “These regular observations with ASAR are therefore essential for the understanding of ice shelf dynamics, its retreat and subsequent influence on convective overturning and deep water formation, which are key processes for global ocean circulation” explains Prof. J.A.Johannessen of the Nansen Centre in Norway.

Technical Information:
Instrument: Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR)
Mode: Wide Swath
Acquisition date: 18 March 2002
Orbit number: 00250
Orbit direction: Descending
Polarisation: VV
Resolution: 150
Instrument: Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS)
Date of Acquisition: 23 March 2002
Orbit number: 00321
Orbit direction: Descending