Photomosaic: 25 July 1998

This photograph shows a 50-km² region around SHEBA on 25 July 1998. The melt season was in full swing, the snow cover was gone and the surface was a mix of bare ice, melt ponds, and leads. Ponds were ubiquitous, covering 22% of the total area. Even though it was summer, the ice concentration was high, with only 5% open water. We estimate that the areally averaged albedo for this scene was approximately 50%. Leads act as windows for light penetration into the ocean, while ponds can be thought of as skylights. Due in large part to the high pond fraction, a significant amount of the incident solar energy will reach the upper ocean.

Aerial photos     May 17 mosaic

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