NASA Captures An Image Of Giant Ice Diamond Floating In Caspian Sea

NASA's Landsat 8 satellite captured an image of giant ice diamond floating and shining in the Caspian Sea on Fe. 4, 2017, while orbiting the western Kazakhstan. On the other hand, this is not a real diamond but rather a chunk of ice that is shaped like a diamond.

A Giant Ice Diamond Spotted Shining In The Caspian Sea https://t.co/ZtU5BGPkqG pic.twitter.com/6SMS7lnZMr

— Zesty Earth News (@zesty_earth) March 4, 2017

Alexi Kouraev, a scientist at the Laboratory of Geophysical and Oceanographic Studies in France, said that this "island" of white ice is most probably a piece that detached from the ice field. The chunk of ice likely broke off from the larger sea ice and then became grounded to the seabed. The ice diamond is moved by the water currents. The natural-color images also display the various types of ice that could be formed in the said area, according to IFL Science.

The image was captured by NASA's Operational Land Imager (OLI) using a high-tech camera attached to the agency's Landsat 8 satellite. It was spotted in the northern region of the 600-mile Caspian Sea that stretches from Kazakhstan to Iran, which is the world's largest inland body of water, according to Weather.

In the image below, the brown ice is the Volga Delta, in which the Volga River, Europe's largest river system, drains into the Caspian Sea. Meanwhile, the white regions are the thinnest part of the ice, which is a 4-meter thick expanse of consolidated ice.

Dazzling ice diamond is spotted floating in the Caspian Sea https://t.co/9iuLTX9ca7 — HELENE (@clean4life1724) March 2, 2017

The image is not only eye-catching but also beautiful as the chunk of ice is shaped like the shining diamond and glistening with white color.