April 22, 2021 - Snow-capped Mountains of British Columbia

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   Canada’s Coast Mountains stretch about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from
   Yukon, Alaska, USA to the Frasier River in Southern British Columbia,
   Canada. They are a part of the massively long “American Cordillera”—a
   group of peaks that run along western North America, Central America,
   and Antarctica.

   Snow is a prime feature of the Coast Mountains, accumulating along the
   entire range, both peaks and valleys, in the wintertime. Snow depth,
   moisture content, and other characteristics are the result of many
   climate features, including air temperature, wind, atmospheric
   moisture, precipitation amounts, and storm frequency. As spring arrives
   and temperatures warm, the snowpack begins to melt, feeding rivers and
   streams and providing vital water to surrounding regions, filling lakes
   and water reservoirs, irrigating agricultural land, and providing for
   other needs of humans and the ecosystem.

   On April 20, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
   (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
   the Coast Mountains north of the island of Vancouver. The ecoprovinces
   recognized by British Columbia that are captured in this image include
   Coast and Mountains (west), the Central Interior (north), and the
   Southern Interior. While substantial snow remains on the highest
   elevations, spring melting is well underway with many valleys in the
   interior snow-free, especially in the Southern Interior. Some lakes in
   the Central Interior, however, remain ice-covered.

   According to British Columbia’s Environmental Reporting BC webpage,
   snow depth and the water content of snow both significantly decreased
   in three of B.C.’s ecoprovinces between 1950 and 2014. Snow depth and
   snow water content decreased at a rate of 11 and 7 percent per decade
   in the Southern Interior, 10 and 5 percent per decade in the Central
   Interior, and 7 and 5 percent per decade in the Southern Interior
   Mountains.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 4/20/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (3 MB),  500m (8.5 MB),  250m (7 MB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-04-22
 
