February marks the peak of summer in Antarctica, providing an opportunity to observe unusual phenomena affecting the continent’s ice.
On Feb. 16, one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites captured a rare image of sea ice with green hues due to a phytoplankton bloom in the Ross Sea. In 2017, the same green ice phenomenon was observed in the same region, and according to scientists at Australia’s Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, the green color was caused by phytoplankton on the water surface, which had discolored the sea ice.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites enable monitoring of the polar regions and allow scientists to gain a better understanding of how their environment is evolving due to climate change.
