Chesapeake Bay Locked in Ice

What’s Happening

Okay so Nearly 50 years ago, the first Landsat satellite captured the rare sight of Mid-Atlantic waterways frozen over.

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Chesapeake Bay Locked in Ice Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Notes from the Field Blog Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search 3 min read Chesapeake Bay Locked in Ice Image of the Day for Nearly 50 years ago, the first Landsat satellite captured the rare sight of Mid-Atlantic waterways frozen over. NASA Earth Observatory Feb 27, 2026 Article View more Images of the Day: Feb 26, 2026 Topics: Extreme Weather Sea & Lake Ice February 7-8, 1977 Residents of the U. (shocking, we know)

Mid-Atlantic endured a formidable winter in 2025-2026, marked -impact storms and prolonged stretches of cold temperatures that left parts of the Chesapeake Bay frozen over.

The Details

Longtime residents may recall a winter nearly 50 years ago when the region saw even more widespread ice cover. The MSS (Multispectral Scanner System) on Landsat 1 captured this image during the exceptionally cold winter of 1976-1977.

The mosaic combines two Landsat scenes acquired on February 7 with a third captured on February 8. The landscape is shown in false color ( MSS bands 6-5-4 ), in which ice appears in shades of blue, green, and white.

Why This Matters

On land, snow appears white, vegetation is red, and urban areas take on brown-gray tones. A NASA analysis published in 1980 drew on these and other Landsat images to examine the anomalous ice conditions. Images indicate that ice began forming in the Chesapeake Bay’s upper tributaries in late December 1976 and spread to the middle of the upper bay by mid-January 1977.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

The Bottom Line

Images indicate that ice began forming in the Chesapeake Bay’s upper tributaries in late December 1976 and spread to the middle of the upper bay by mid-January 1977. It reached its maximum extent around the time of this image, one week into February, when ice spanned 85 percent of the bay.

What do you think about all this?