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Petermann Glacier, Greenland

The COSMO -SkyMed constellation monitors iceberg

On August 1 an enormous iceberg of 250 km² was calved from the Petermann Glacier near the Nares Strait that separates the island of Ellesmere from Greenland. The satellites of the COSMO-SkyMed constellation are monitoring the movements of the giant block of ice.

The data collected have been used to measure the speed of the currents – which in the Strait of Nares exceed 1km/h – vital information for predicting the movements of the iceberg that, once in the strait, could be drawn southward and become a potential menace to shipping in the area.

The sophisticated radar sensors aboard the COSMO-SkyMed satellites have also shown that the fracture in the glacier was already present in March, months before the iceberg broke away.

Update: On September 9th the iceberg broke in two and the smaller part drifted down the Kennedy Channel. On the 13th it left the channel travelling sowuthward at about 1.8 km/h.

Download presentation of the latest data - to 14/9 (23MB pdf)

Update, 11 October 2010

After drifting separately for about a month, the two fragments have almost rejoined, along the south-east coast of the island of Ellesmere.

On a day of little wind, the Cosmo-SkyMed acquisition shows the spectacular patterns generated by the ice floes as they follow the current.

Click here to see the large image. Here is a kml file to show the current position of the two glacier fragments in Google Earth.

COSMO-SkyMed © ASI processed and distributed by e-GEOS