May 13, 2022 - Thawing around Akimiski Island

Thawing around Akimiski Island
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On May 11, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
ice breakup near Akimiski Island, St. James Bay in Nunavut, Canada. The
crescent-shaped island is the largest in James Bay, with an area of
about 1,159 square miles (3,000 square km). Although currently
uninhabited, it has an important history as part of the Attawapiskat
First Nation’s traditional territory and is also recognized as an IBA
(Important Bird and Biodiversity Area) by BirdLife International.
Hundreds of thousands of birds flock to the island during migration,
and at least 10,000 of the Southern James Bay Canada Goose population
breeds on the island as well as other species. In addition, the
southern region of Akimiski Island is a maternity denning area and the
coasts are a summer retreat for polar bears.

The importance of the island to the to the First Nation’s peoples
cannot be underestimated. The division of the island from the province
of Ontario, where the tribes reside, as well part of the island being
owned by the federal government and identified as the Akimiski Island
Migratory Bird Sanctuary has made it difficult for the leaders to
assert territorial rights to hunting and trapping on the land. However,
the western third of the island is unregulated and is used by the First
Nation’s peoples as has been tradition. One tradition is that each May,
as the air temperature warms but while the ice remains strong, hunters
from the tribe cross the ice from the Ontario mainland to reach
Akimiski, looking to find food. Because the ice can thaw quickly and
unexpectedly, this important foray is fraught with danger. One misstep
on the weakening ice can bring disaster.

To better understand how quickly ice can melt around Akimiski, the NASA
Worldview app offers a comparison of two Terra MODIS images acquired on
two different dates. To view this comparison, which shows an image
acquired on April 29 and the image above, acquired less than two weeks
later on May 11, simply click here.

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)
Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse
over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then
download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are
updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the
entire Earth as it looks "right now".

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 5/11/2022
Resolutions: 1km (165.2 KB), 500m (453.2 KB), 250m (314.5
KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-05-13

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