Image: Tasman glacier 2011 CHCH quake

Description: Earthquake Shakes Ice from New Zealand Glacier The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that ravaged Christchurch, New Zealand, on February 22, 2011, also broke a 30 million-ton piece of ice off the Tasman Glacier. The ice broke into many smaller icebergs after falling into Tasman Lake. By the time the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image on March 2, the icebergs had congregated at the far end of the lake. In the false-color image, plant-covered land is red. The dirt-coated glacier is dark brown, matching the exposed rock in the surrounding Southern Alps. White snow tops the mountains to the west, and the river and lake—clouded with finely ground rock—are silver.
Title: Tasman glacier 2011 CHCH quake
Credit: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49553
Author: NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No