NASA MODIS Image of the Day: April 26, 2011 – Newfoundland
In early April, 2011 the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador was blanketed with snow and ice, while clouds covered the surrounding Atlantic Ocean, creating a dramatic study in blue and white.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite captured this true-color image on April 9, 2011.
The snow-covered mainland in the upper left corner of the image encompasses Labrador in the north and the province of Quebec in the south. Just inland of the northern coast of Labrador, a large bright white area is the frozen Lake Melville, a saltwater tidal extension of Hamilton Inlet. Hamilton Inlet is not frozen and appears a deep blue color, similar to the open ocean water. The island of Newfoundland lies southwest of Labrador and is separated from it by the Strait of Belle Isle. In the 11th century, Newfoundland was called “Vinland” by Leif Eriksson, the Norse explorer who is regarded as the first European to land in North America (excluding Greenland). An important Norse settlement, possibly the first site established by Eriksson, has been identified on the very northernmost tip of the island. Like the majority of the island on this day, the remains of that settlement are covered in snow. The land of the southeastern coast of Newfoundland is beginning to show some green, as the winter snows begin to thaw and spring green-up begins. In the lower left of the image, Cape Breton Island, which makes up the northern tip of Nova Scotia, is also beginning to show green. The northern half of the Cape Breton Island, particularly in the higher elevations of Cape Breton Highlands National Park, remains snow covered.
