Start Date: End Date: Published Date Data Date
Data acquired March 17, 2015 720 x 480 JPEG
Data acquired March 17, 2015 5200 x 4000 21 MB - JPEG
Data acquired March 16, 2014 720 x 480 JPEG
Data acquired March 16, 2014 5200 x 3466 15 MB - JPEG
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired the top image of ice cover on North America’s Great Lakes on March 17, 2015. On that day, ice covered 55 percent of the lakes, according to the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. The bottom image shows ice cover a year earlier (March 16, 2014) when ice covered 75 percent of the lakes. Use the image comparison tool to see the difference.
Ice cover on the Great Lakes peaked at more than 80 percent in 2014 and again in 2015, marking the sixth such occurrence in four decades. The average maximum ice extent since 1973 has been about 50 percent.
Aqua MODIS images courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.
Published March 18, 2015 Data acquired March 17, 2015