# Presentation: 244966

## Icebergs in the 

**Icebergs in the **
**Ross Sea, **
**Antarctica**
**10 December 2000**

**Notes:**
Two large icebergs, designated B-15A and C-16, are captured in this MISR nadir camera view of the Ross Ice Shelf and Ross Sea in Antarctica. The image was acquired on December 10, 2000 during Terra orbit 5220. 
Iceberg C-16 calved off the ice shelf in late September and is nearly 50 kilometers in length. It is seen here having migrated to the vicinity of Cape Bird on Ross Island. The initial letter designation in an iceberg's name denotes the longitudinal quadrant in which it is first seen, and new icebergs sighted in that quadrant are sequentially numbered. B-15 divided from the ice shelf last March, and initially was nearly as large as the state of Connecticut. It has since broken up into several pieces, hence the final letter designation in the berg shown in this image. 
Ross Island lies between 77 and 78 degrees south latitude, and consists of several volcanic peaks, of which the still active Mt. Erebus is the tallest (3794 meters). It overlooks McMurdo Station, a U.S. research facility located near the tip of the island's Hut Point Peninsula. 

## Airborne Particulates over Southern Africa

**Airborne Particulates over Southern Africa**
**14 August - 29 September 2000**

**Notes:**
This map shows the abundance of airborne particulates, or aerosols, over Southern Africa during the period August 14 -  September 29, 2000. Low particle concentrations are shown in shades of blue, and high concentrations in shades of red. The results were generated from MISR imagery acquired over this time period, and processed using MISR's automated software system. The approach for deriving aerosol amount makes use of the variation of scene brightness and contrast as a function of observation angle. Black areas over the land area correspond to places where a result was not obtained, for example, due to the presence of clouds.
Extensive burning of grass and shrubland for land management and agriculture comprises a principal source of these aerosols. Vegetation availability increases northward, hence the greater abundance of haze and smoke in Angola and southern Zaire. The lower aerosol abundance around Lesotho and southeastern South Africa is consistent with the higher terrain elevations near the Drakensberg Mountains.

## Winter Snowfall Turns an Emerald White

**Notes:**
Ireland's climate is normally mild due to the nearby Gulf Stream, but the waning days of 2000 saw the Emerald Isle's green fields swathed in an uncommon blanket of white. The contrast between summer and winter is apparent in this pair of images of southwestern Ireland acquired by MISR's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera on August 23, 2000 (left) and December 29, 2000 (right). The corresponding Terra orbit numbers are 3628 and 5492, respectively.
The year 2000 brought record-breaking weather to the British Isles. England and Wales experienced the wettest spring and autumn months since 1766. Despite being one of the warmest years in recent history, a cold snap arrived between Christmas and New Year's Day. According to the UK Meteorological Office, the 18 centimeters (7 inches) of snow recorded at Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, on December 27-28 was the deepest daily fall since 1930.
Prominent geographical features visible in the MISR images include Galway Bay near the top left. Further south, the mouth of the River Shannon, the largest river in the British Isles, meets the Atlantic Ocean. In the lower portions of the images are the counties of Limerick, Kerry and Cork.

## A Merging 

**A Merging **
**of Pale and **
**Dark**
**23 July 2000**