Images snapped from space show the spectacular patterns formed by sea ice floating on the ocean currentsThe pictures, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA's Terra satellite on June 4 this year, show tiny fragments of sea ice drifting on the waves along the coast of Greenland.The ebbs and flows of the ocean currents seem to have woven the ice into spiral-like patterns, like snowflakes in a blizzard.
There are several types of sea ice, including first-year ice, which forms and melts within a single year, and multiyear ice, which survives through multiple summer melt seasons and is thicker and more resilient. The larger fragments seen in the picture likely formed along the coast near where they are currently seen, having not yet been broken up by the journey.