New! Hubble Space Telescope Gallery Prints

• Shipping Options
• Security and Privacy
• Return policy

• Acknowledgements

Earth from Space 2001 Calendar

This image shows an area of ice in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. The Weddell Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean bordered by the Antarctic Peninsula and Coats Land. The image provides information about the ice pack that is impossible to learn in any other way. For example, the image allows the thickness of the ice cover to be determined, which bears on issues of the global climate. The blue-gray regions are rounded, undeformed ice floes about 0.7 m (2 ft) thick. The reddish regions are deformed pieces of ice up to 2 m (7 ft) thick. The dark regions between the ice floes are areas of open water. The image was obtained by SIR-C/X-SAR on the Space Shuttle Endeavour on October 3, 1994 and shows an area about 18 km (11 mi) on a side.