Ranging in color from snow white to turquoise, sea ice lined the shoreline in eastern Greenland in mid-June 2000. NASA's Landsat 7 satellite acquired this image on June 16, 2000, shortly before the summer solstice when the Arctic enjoyed near round-the-clock sunshine. Although snow and ice abound in this image, both are in retreat for the summer. Snowcaps form dendritic patterns on the brown landscape, leaving south-facing slopes especially bare. Around the Hold with Hope promontory, fast ice clings to the shoreline. Common over shallow ocean waters along shorelines, fast ice holds fast to the shore and/or sea bottom, not moving with winds or currents. Off the coast, pieces of bright white sea ice float on the sea surface, able to move with forces that don's affect the fast ice. Much of the fast ice in this image is blue, especially in the fjord north of Hold with Hope. Summer melt often lends ice a blue color due to water saturation. In addition, this ice could be what is known as blue ice, or ice composed of large crystals.