Sea ice breaking from Antarctic ice shelf, satellite image

Satellite image of an area of sea ice breaking from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf in the Antarctic peninsula on 13 January 2010. The area, which is larger than the state of Rhode Island, has broken into numerous smaller pieces. The long and narrow section of ice is a bridge of sea ice which links the A-23A iceberg (upper centre) and the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf (lower centre) in West Antarctica. This bridge of ice is called fast ice, which is sea ice that does not move because it is anchored to the shore. In comparison to an ice shelf, the sea ice is a thin layer of ice that covers the ocean, and the difference in thickness is visible in the image. This particular ice bridge breaks up and reforms regularly, which is a sign of the arrival of summer in the Polar South. Image acquired by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite., by NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY