NASA
NASA | Petermann Ice Island 2012
This time-lapse video shows the calving of an ice island from Greenland's Petermann Glacier and the drifting of the ice down the fjord and southward through Nares Strait. The images were captured between July 9 and September 13, 2012, by...
NASA
NASA | Operation IceBridge: Greenland, Spring 2010
The Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth's polar ice, kicked off its second year of study with NASA aircraft arriving in Greenland March 22, 2010. Visit the Operation IceBridge web site:Or check...
NASA
NASA | Operation IceBridge: A Science Lab in the Arctic Sky
One of the keys to gathering data for Operation IceBridge is a highly modified McDonnell Douglas DC-8 jetliner, which NASA operates as a flying science laboratory. This workhorse DC-8 can fly long trips, allowing a suite of scientific...
NASA
Field Study Sheds New Light on Melt Zone
Five years after a NASA-funded field study returned to to set up camp once again in the melt zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet, a new study adds to the rich findings from this innovative project. We look back on this bold undertaking,...
NASA
NASA | Greenland's Ice Layers Mapped in 3D
Peering into the thousands of frozen layers inside Greenland’s ice sheet is like looking back in time. Each layer provides a record of not only snowfall and melting events, but what the Earth’s climate was like at the dawn of...
Next Animation Studio
Satellites show Greenland’s melting ice is causing seas to rise
Greenland’s ice sheet contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 6 meters, and it’s melting at an alarming rate.
NASA
NASA | IceBridge Kicks Off Campaign with “New” Aircraft
NASA’s Operation IceBridge is back in the field, but this time, there’s a twist. Instead of using the P-3 or DC-8 aircraft from previous campaigns, they’ve outfitted a C-130 cargo plane for the trip. Science flights begin this week as...
NASA
NASA | IceBridge Kicks Off Antarctic 2010 Campaign
On October 18th, NASA's Operation IceBridge scientists and the DC-8 crew departed for Punta Arenas, Chile where they will begin the Antarctic 2010 phase of the mission. For the next five weeks, instrumnents aboard the DC-8 will collect...
NASA
NASA | Sea Ice 2008
Arctic sea ice declined this summer to its second smallest extent in the satellite era, suggesting that the record set in 2007 may not have been an anomaly. If recent trends in the melt rate continue, we could see a virtually ice-free...
NASA
IceBridge Flies 300 Hours of Antarctic Science Flights
Flying low over the Earth’s southernmost continent, Operation IceBridge is wrapping up its eighth consecutive field season of mapping the ice sheet and glaciers of Antarctica, as well as the surrounding sea ice. With more than 300 hours...
NASA
Permanent Shadows on Ceres
Permanently shadowed regions capable of accumulating surface ice were identified in the northern hemisphere of Ceres using images taken by NASA’s Dawn mission combined with sophisticated computer modeling of illumination. CREDIT:...
NASA
NASA | Operation IceBridge Flies the Ice Caps
Ice caps are simply small versions of ice sheets, measuring in at a maximum area of 50,000 square kilometers (about 19,000 square miles). It's their small and thin stature that makes ice caps more prone to melt in a warming Arctic....
NASA
NASA | IceBridge Flies High over Both Poles
For the first time NASA’s Operation IceBridge is flying simultaneous missions over both the Arctic and Antarctic, on smaller, faster aircraft. These campaigns and aircraft represent both a unique opportunity for measuring polar ice, and...
NASA
NASA | Operation IceBridge: Wheels Down in Thule
NASA's Operation IceBridge begins another season of science over the Arctic with survey flights out of Greenland. For the next several weeks, IceBridge will carry out a research campaign — the result of months of planning and discussion...
NASA
NASA | Operation IceBridge Discovers Massive Crack in Ice Shelf
In October, 2011, NASA's Operation IceBridge discovered a major rift in the Pine Island Glacier in western Antarctica. This crack, which extends at least 18 miles and is 50 meters deep, could produce an iceberg more than 800 square...
NASA
NASA | NPPy: Big Planet, Little Bear
NPP is the prototype of the next generation weather satellites, named JPSS. NPP has five instruments on board and will continue the legacy of existing weather satellites like Terra and Aqua. NPP will deliver critical data not only for...
NASA
NASA | Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica
This guided tour of the area surrounding McMurdo Station in Antarctica uses the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA). It's a great way to experience the frozen continent without any risk of frostbite.
NASA
NASA | Arctic Sea Ice 101
NASA climate scientist Tom Wagner provides a look at the state of Arctic sea ice in 2009 and discusses NASA's role in monitoring the cryosphere. Learn More: Or get tweeted by NASA:
NASA
NASA | A Tour of the Cryosphere 2009
It has been said that the frozen parts of our planet, also known as the cryosphere, may be the proverbial 'canary in the coal mine' when it comes to climate change. This video shows some of the most dramatic fluctuations to our...
NASA
NASA | IceBridge 2010: Pine Island Flight
On November 19, Operation IceBridge flew a successful 10.9 hour mission to the Pine Island region of Antarctica. All instruments collected data along previous ICESat and CryoSat satellite tracks in an effort to calibrate and validate the...
NASA
NASA | A Short Tour of the Cryosphere
The cryosphere consists of those parts of the Earth's surface where water is found in solid form, including areas of snow, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost, ice sheets, and icebergs. This animation portrays changes in the cryosphere through...
NASA
Flying Alaska’s Glaciers with Operation IceBridge
After the launch of ICESat-2 in 2018, Operation IceBridge mostly came to a close. However, Operation IceBridge Alaska continues to work in the field studying and recording ice thickness in the region. Scientists from University Alaska...
NASA
Landsat's Global View of Ice Velocity
Ice from glaciers constantly flows into the ocean, but the speed the ice moves at changes. Landsat 8 provides near-real-time mapping of ice speed in nearly all the world’s frozen regions. Information like ice speed helps scientists study...
NASA
NASA | Operation Icebridge: Recovery Offshore 01
On Nov. 2, 2012 Operation IceBridge flew an 11-hour mission over the Recovery Glacier and Filchner Ice Shelf in eastern Antarctica. On the transit back home, NASA scientist John Sonntag gave a two-minute breakdown of the mission over the...