Each winter, Hudson Bay’s blue water are dominated by a thick ice cover. By late spring the ice begins to thaw until, usually sometime in late June or July, Hudson Bay becomes ice-free. Melting usually begins in May or early June but if the spring is warm thaw can begin in late April. In cooler summers some ice may linger on the waters until August.

Oh April 10, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Hudson Bay, showing that spring thaw has already begun. Large areas of blue mark open water between Quebec Province, Canada (east) and sea ice (west). A comparison between this image and the same area acquired by Terra’s MODIS on March 26 can be found here.

The NASA Worldview app provides a satellite's perspective of the planet as it looks today and as it has in the past through daily satellite images. Worldview is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System. EOSDIS makes the agency's large repository of data accessible and freely available to the public.

Image Facts

Satellite: Terra

Date Acquired: 4/10/2020

Resolutions: , ,

Bands Used: 1,4,3

Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC