March 12, 2021 - Ice Breakup on Green Bay

    Follow @NASA_MODIS

   ice on Green Bay
    Tweet
    Share

   As winter comes to northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of
   Michigan, a certain excitement fills the chilly air—especially among
   the hardy fisher-folk who can’t wait to set up a shack and drop a line
   over ice-crusted Green Bay. Usually, parts of Green Bay are frozen-up
   enough to support ice fishing by mid-December and thick ice continues
   through late February. The winter of 2020-2021 was an exception.

   According to the Great Lake’s ice report published by the National
   Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on March 4, temperatures
   in the western Great Lakes region averaged between 4 and 6 degrees
   above normal in December 2020 and January 2021. On January 20, local
   media (wbay.com) ran a story out of Dyckesville, Wisconsin warning of
   thin ice, especially in the northern Bay. The story stated that there
   had already been one rescue on the ice, and that there had been reports
   of several ATVs and snowmobiles had gone through thin ice.

   A frigid mass of Arctic air swept over the region in early February,
   dropping average temperatures between 8 and 10 degrees below normal in
   the western lakes. These cold days led to a rapid freeze-up of most of
   Green Bay. By early March, with the sun angle increasing and warming
   the waters of the Bay and the temperatures once again on the rise, ice
   breakup was well underway. Gusty winds over Green Bay and Lake Michigan
   in the first week of March also aided the breakup.

   On March 8, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
   (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
   Green Bay. Large chunks of ice are floating on nearly-open water
   between Escanaba State Forest and Washington Island, in Wisconsin. To
   the east, western Lake Michigan appears completely ice free.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 3/8/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (152.1 KB),  500m (425.3 KB),  250m (311.3
   KB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-03-12
 
