February, 2007

On September 5, 2006, a true color image was captured from an altitude of 690km by the Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer-2 (AVNIR-2) on the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) "Daichi" when the satellite passed over Barrow, Alaska, which is one of the northernmost city of North America. Resolution of the image is 10 m.

In summer, chunks of white sea ice are floating discretely. Pale blue spots on them are melted ponds or holes (larger image). Sea current flows upward along the coast and swirls near the spit. Growth of plankton may cause viridian sea-color (upside). In the right side of the image, the sea turns yellowish because of shallow water and disturbed sand.

Permafrost field changes into wetland during summer. In this area, many oval landscape oriented northwest are recognizable. Once permafrost was melted by such as peat fire, a round thermo karst lake would be generated. As the wind in this region is mainly blowing northwest, the lakes are extended to the same direction. The oriented lakes are eventually dried up because total evaporation is larger than the precipitation in the region. Brown ovals in the image are traces of such lake.

Barrow city is shown near the coast. A runway of Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport is lying in the south of the city (a closeup image). Snow observation was taken place around the city in 2003.