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acquired August 31, 2015
download large image (26 MB, JPEG, 12000x12000)
acquired August 31, 2015
download large image (26 MB, GOV/IMAGES/IMAGERECORDS/86000/86589/)
There was a time when the Northwest Passage was a sort of maritime Holy Grail, a route so desired and sought after, but so elusive. For most of the recorded history of North America, the Passage has been nearly impassable and often deadly. But with the modernization of ships and the warming of the Earth, cruising and sailing through the Canadian Archipelago from Baffin Bay to the Beaufort Sea has grown more common and easier. But it's not necessarily easy.
The top image above shows the Northwest Passage as it appeared on August 31, 2015, to the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite. The second image was acquired the same day by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. The white box on the top image shows the area depicted in the Landsat view. Both images are natural color. Note that much of the white covering the Northwest Passage in the VIIRS image is cloud cover, not sea ice.
The Northwest Passage is a complex, winding maze of sounds, channels, bays, and straits that pass through often ice-choked Arctic waters. Mariners refer to two main routes: a southern passage and a northern passage.
The southern route generally follows the one taken by Roald Amundsen from 1903–1906, when his crew completed the first successful transit through the region. The southern passage goes south of Prince of Wales Island and Victoria Island (and sometimes King William Island) and enters the Beaufort Sea south of Banks Island. It includes several narrow and shallow waterways that are better suited to small ships than large commercial vessels. This southern or "Amundsen" passage has been open for several weeks in the summer of 2015.
The northern passage runs through Lancaster Sound, Parry Channel, and McClure Strait - waterways that are wider, deeper, and more suited to large sh

Filename: rtisipausa_20553510.jpg
Copyright: NASA RealTime Images
Image Size: 6000x6000 / 5.6MB; xxsipa_usa_owned
Contained in galleries: NASA Aerials - 28 June 2017

acquired August 31, 2015<br />
download large image (26 MB, JPEG, 12000x12000)<br />
acquired August 31, 2015<br />
download large image (26 MB, GOV/IMAGES/IMAGERECORDS/86000/86589/)<br />
There was a time when the Northwest Passage was a sort of maritime Holy Grail, a route so desired and sought after, but so elusive. For most of the recorded history of North America, the Passage has been nearly impassable and often deadly. But with the modernization of ships and the warming of the Earth, cruising and sailing through the Canadian Archipelago from Baffin Bay to the Beaufort Sea has grown more common and easier. But it's not necessarily easy.<br />
The top image above shows the Northwest Passage as it appeared on August 31, 2015, to the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite. The second image was acquired the same day by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. The white box on the top image shows the area depicted in the Landsat view. Both images are natural color. Note that much of the white covering the Northwest Passage in the VIIRS image is cloud cover, not sea ice.<br />
The Northwest Passage is a complex, winding maze of sounds, channels, bays, and straits that pass through often ice-choked Arctic waters. Mariners refer to two main routes: a southern passage and a northern passage.<br />
The southern route generally follows the one taken by Roald Amundsen from 1903–1906, when his crew completed the first successful transit through the region. The southern passage goes south of Prince of Wales Island and Victoria Island (and sometimes King William Island) and enters the Beaufort Sea south of Banks Island. It includes several narrow and shallow waterways that are better suited to small ships than large commercial vessels. This southern or "Amundsen" passage has been open for several weeks in the summer of 2015.<br />
The northern passage runs through Lancaster Sound, Parry Channel, and McClure Strait - waterways that are wider, deeper, and more suited to large sh

RealTime Images

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