Arctic Impressions
This northern scenery shows the ice cap of Greenland in low winter light conditions from ten kilometers height. The low sun elevation lights only the highest peaks, called nunataks, that are enwrapped in thin clouds. These were the only peaks to project through the ice cap during the ice-age. Still, the Greenland ice-system almost totally submerges the landscape on which it lies. Several outlet glaciers flow through lines of nunataks toward the sea. The strong erosive force of glaciers thereby flattens the bedrock into an ice-polished smooth and rounded surface. After deglaciation nunataks stand out from the landscape as the only sharp peaked mountain tops.
February 2001
Pentax MZ5, Sigma 70-200mm, f/5.6, 1/125sec, Kodak Ektachrome E6, ISO 100, aerial photography