April 16, 2023 - Clear skies over Patagonia

Clear Skies
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On April 12, 2023, clouds parted over Patagonia, allowing the Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua
satellite to acquire a stunning true-color image of a sunny autumn day
across the region.

Patagonia, which spans more than 1 million square kilometers of the
southern tip of South America, is usually covered in clouds in
satellite imagery, thanks to frequent stormy weather. The region sits
in a belt of prevailing westerly winds, which carry systems across
southern Chile and Argentina. In addition, when moist air blowing in
from the Pacific Ocean strikes the tall Andes Mountains, it rises
upwards, where it cools and condenses into broad cloud cover.

The most iconic feature seen in the rare cloud-free glimpse shows both
the northern and southern Patagonian icefields, which are the remnants
of an ancient ice sheet that reached its maximum size about 18,000
years ago. Stretching eastward from the icefields are a series of
glacial lakes, colored in a variety of shades created by several
factors, including depth and sediment content. Like glaciers
everywhere, Andean glaciers have slowly pulverized the rocks below into
fine-grained sediments. This sediment, known as glacial flour, flows
into the glacial lakes, creating the bright turquoise colors that
brighten this image.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 4/12/2023
Resolutions: 1km (925.8 KB), 500m (2.3 MB), 250m (4.6 MB)
Bands Used:
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-04-16

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