Antarctica is the least habituated continent across the globe. Even though it is the 5th largest continent, it is practically impossible to survive on the coldest, windiest, and driest continent. As per the survey, over 70% of the freshwater reserves of the world are in a frozen state in Antarctica. It is believed that if these frozen reserves get melted due to global warming in the future, the sea levels will be up by around 60mtrs globally.
Discover the reality of the viral image of Antarctica from Space
A social media post went viral on the internet that showed an image of Antarctica from space. The image displayed a huge sea ice ring that covered the continent and got liked and shared by a large number of people on the Twitter platform.
The Image is not real but just a visualization.
The Reality of the image claimed to be the photo of Antarctica from space is that it was a computer-generated image (CGI) by a NASA scientist to visualize how the continent would appear when the satellites could not get it photographed in the dark phase.
The NASA scientist gathered the data from multiple Earth-observing satellites and generated this photorealistic image by mapping the data derived from the observations. This image is not a real image snapped by any Earth-orbiting camera, but actually, it is an image created using data from the satellites and then crafted into an image of how the sea ice-covered continent would appear from space.
What is sea ice?
Sea ice is frozen ocean water that is created when the surface of the ocean freezes due to extreme cold temperatures. It differs from glaciers or icebergs that are formed on land, sea ice is formed in the ocean, grows, and gets melted within the ocean itself.
It has a major role to play in maintaining the climate of Earth as it reflects sunlight back to the atmosphere, improving the cooling of planet Earth. The light blue area shown in the image between the dark blue unfrozen Earth and the white sheet of ice on the continent is the sea ice.
Cindy Starr’s CGI of Antarctica
The NASA scientist Cindy Starr utilized the real data provided by the NASA satellites. She combined the data obtained from the AQUA Satellite that is entailed to derive the microwave radiations. As the readings of microwave radiations from ocean, land, and sea ice all are distinct, they use these readings to identify the amount of sea ice that surrounds the continent. She infused the readings of the AQUA satellite and IR readings of the TERRA satellite to create this image.
The image was a sheer visualization of Cindy Starr to determine the level of sea ice that may be surrounding the Antarctic on Sept. 21, 2005. The image was released in 2007 but has been trending in recent times on Twitter.
The image cannot be termed as fake or a hoax but is also not a real image. It is a beautiful vision of an aspiring scientist to witness our planet Earth in a different light, but is surely not an actual image that is taken by any of the Earth’s orbiting satellite cameras.
