Image: Yukon River Delta, Alaska

Description: Nature works in patterns, and one of those patterns is imprinted on the frozen Alaskan landscape in this true-colour image. Like a winter-bare tree, a network of roots, or the veins, arteries, and capillaries that enclose an organ, the Yukon River branches across the snowy Yukon Delta to the Bering Sea. The main branches of the river are bright white, the surface frozen and probably covered in snow. The smaller distributaries (the branches that break away from the main branch of the river) are darker, highlighted against the field of white that covers the rest of the delta region. Each branch flows into the Bering Sea, but the coastline is invisible in this image. The shallower water near shore has frozen, and the white sea ice blends with the white, snow-covered coast. The continuous field of white heightens the delta’s resemblance to a tree viewed against a cloudy sky.
Title: Yukon River Delta, Alaska
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Author: Jeff Schmaltz
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No