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Ayles Ice Shelf Breakup Viewed from Northwest Coastline
On August 13, 2005, almost the entire Ayles Ice Shelf calved from the northern edge of Ellesmere Island. This continues the trend of dramatic loss of these ice shelves over the past century, reducing the remaining ice shelves there from six to five. Since 1900, approximately 90% of the Ellesmere Island ice shelves have calved and floated away. There is insufficient new ice formation to replace the ice that has been lost. The Ayles calving event was the largest in at least the last 25 years; a total of 87.1 sq km (33.6 sq miles) of ice was lost in this event, of which the largest piece was 66.4 sq km (25.6 sq. miles) in area. This piece is equivalent in size to approximately 11,000 football fields or a little larger than the island of Manhattan.

Animation zooms to view the ice shelf as seen from the northwest coastline and sequences through the satellite images showing the ice shelf breakup. An overlay shows the date and time, the region of interest and the area of the ice shelf broken.    Animation zooms to view the ice shelf as seen from the northwest coastline and sequences through the satellite images showing the ice shelf breakup. An overlay shows the date and time, the region of interest and the area of the ice shelf broken.
Duration: 20.0 seconds
Available formats:
  1280x720 (29.97 fps) Frames (Ayles WithOverlay)
  512x288 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   4 MB
  1280x720 (29.97 fps) MPEG-2   24 MB
  1280x720 (29.97 fps) MPEG-4   16 MB
  640x360 (29.92 fps) MPEG-4   3 MB
  1280x720 (59.94 fps) Frames (Ayles WithOverlay)
  320x180     PNG           304 KB
  160x80       PNG           69 KB
  80x40         PNG           17 KB
  1920x1080 (59.94 fps) Frames (Ayles withOverlay)
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This animation is identical to the above animation except that it has been reformatted to fit standard definition NTSC with a 4x3 aspect ratio.    This animation is identical to the above animation except that it has been reformatted to fit standard definition NTSC with a 4x3 aspect ratio.
Duration: 20.0 seconds
Available formats:
  720x480 (29.97 fps) MPEG-2   11 MB
  720x480 (29.97 fps) Frames (Ayles with Overlay)
  320x213     PNG           355 KB
  320x240 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   2 MB
  640x480 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   8 MB
  320x240 (29.97 fps) X-FLV       852 KB
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The animation is identical to the first animation above but does not show the overlay that contains the date and the ice shelf locator.    The animation is identical to the first animation above but does not show the overlay that contains the date and the ice shelf locator.
Duration: 20.0 seconds
Available formats:
  1280x720 (29.97 fps) Frames (Ayles)
  512x288 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   4 MB
  1280x720 (29.97 fps) MPEG-2   24 MB
  1280x720 (29.97 fps) MPEG-4   16 MB
  640x360 (29.92 fps) MPEG-4   3 MB
  1280x720 (59.94 fps) Frames (Ayles)
  320x180     PNG           304 KB
  1920x1080 (59.94 fps) Frames (Ayles)
  320x180 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   2 GB
How to play our movies


This animation is identical to the above animation except that it has been reformatted to fit standard definition NTSC with a 4x3 aspect ratio.    This animation is identical to the above animation except that it has been reformatted to fit standard definition NTSC with a 4x3 aspect ratio.
Duration: 20.0 seconds
Available formats:
  720x480 (29.97 fps) MPEG-2   11 MB
  720x480 (29.97 fps) Frames (Ayles)
  320x213     PNG           356 KB
  320x240 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   2 MB
  640x480 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   8 MB
  320x240 (29.97 fps) X-FLV       844 KB
How to play our movies


Image of Ayles ice shelf on August 13, 2005 at time 00:55 GMT    Image of Ayles ice shelf on August 13, 2005 at time 00:55 GMT

Available formats:
  2560 x 1920     TIFF 4 MB
  320 x 240         PNG     397 KB


Image of Ayles ice shelf on August 14, 2005 at time 00:00 GMT.    Image of Ayles ice shelf on August 14, 2005 at time 00:00 GMT.

Available formats:
  2560 x 1920     TIFF 4 MB
  320 x 240         PNG     404 KB


Overlay containing the date, region of interest outline and ice shelf area.    Overlay containing the date, region of interest outline and ice shelf area.

Available formats:
  1280x720 (29.97 fps) Frames (Overlay)
  320x180     PNG           6 KB
  1280x720 (59.94 fps) Frames (Overlay)
  1920x1080 (59.94 fps) Frames (Overlay)
How to play our movies

Animation Number:3430
Completed:2007-05-21
Animator:Cindy Starr (GST) (Lead)
Scientist:Luke Copland (University of Ottawa)
Platforms/Sensors/Data Sets:Aqua/MODIS (2005-08-13 to 2005-08-14)
 Terra/MODIS (2005-08-13 to 2005-08-14)
 Aqua/AMSR-E/Daily L3 6.25 km 89 GHz Brightness Temperature (Tb) (2005-01-26 to 2005-08-13 )
 Aqua/AMSR-E/Daily L3 12.5km Tb, Sea Ice Concentration, and Snow Depth (2005-01-26 to 2005-08-13 )
 Terra/MODIS/Land Surface Reflectance (2005-08-13 to 2005-08-14)
Goddard TV Tape:G2007-001HD -- NASA's HD Climate Change Resource Tape
Keywords:
DLESE >> Cryology
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Ice Shelf
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Sea Ice Concentration
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Sea Ice Motion
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Ice Motion
 
 
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).


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