Greenland

The calving front of Kangerdlugssup Glacier in central west Greenland where icebergs are born. You can see several large ice bergs in the fjord on the right surrounded by the so called mélange, which is a dense mix of bergy bits and sea ice floating in the fjord. The mélange plays a role in how many ice bergs a glacier can produce by stabilizing the calving front. Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger.

Along Greenland's western coast, a small field of glaciers empties into Baffin Bay, 80% of which is covered by ice in winter. Calving icebergs may be seen in the lower right of this high-resolution satellite photo. Baffin Bay is only 1,000 m (3,300 ft) deep along the coast. Between May and July a polynya, an area of navigable open water surrounded by sea ice, forms at the northern part of the bay. This polynya, the largest in the Canadian Arctic, is stable in location and has existed for nearly 9,000 years. Image courtesy of USGS.

The Steensby Glacier in norothern Greenland flows around a sharp bend in a deep canyon. The glacier is located at 81 degrees north in Nyboe Land and flows into the St. Georges Fjord. Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger.

Each spring and summer, as the air warms up and the sunlight beats down on the Greenland ice sheet, sapphire-colored ponds spring up like swimming pools. As snow and ice melt atop the glaciers, the water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface that are sometimes visible in satellite imagery. These melt ponds and lakes can disappear quickly - a phenomenon that scientists have observed firsthand in recent years. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Glaciers in the fjords of Greenland, as seen from the air.

The calving front of Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland as seen from a NASA P-3B. In July 2012 an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan broke off of Petermann Glacier and began to float away in the ocean. After this calving event the line where the iceberg broke away became the glacier's new front edge, or calving front, effectively moving it several kilometers upstream. Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger.