Bruggen Glacier, Chile: Image of the Day
The Expedition 3 crew of the International Space Station caught a rare glimpse of the massive ice fields and glaciers of Patagonia early in the afternoon on September 25, 2001. This part of the South American ... More
Mars Researchers Rendezvous on Remote Arctic Island: Image of the Day
Devon Island is situated in an isolated part of Canada's Nunavut Territory, and is usually considered to be the largest uninhabited island in the world. However, each summer since 1999, researchers from NASA's ... More
One of the few areas of Antarctica not covered by thousands
One of the few areas of Antarctica not covered by thousands of meters of ice, the McMurdo Dry Valleys stand out in this satellite image. For a few weeks each summer temperatures are warm enough to melt glacial ... More
Just as the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Zambezi, the
Just as the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Zambezi, the Yangtze, and Earth's other mighty rivers drain the continents, rivers also drain Antarctica, only in this frozen landscape, the rivers are ice. Under their ... More
Wilkins Ice Shelf NASA Image of The Day
The Wilkins Ice Shelf, on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, experienced multiple disintegration events in 2008. By the beginning of 2009, a narrow ice bridge was all that remained to connect the ice ... More
Dry Valleys, Antarctica NASA Image of The Day
The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of valleys west of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, so named because of their extremely low humidity and lack of snow and ice cover. Photosynthetic bacteria have been found living in... More
Mars Researchers Rendezvous on Remote Arctic Island: Image of the Day
Devon Island is situated in an isolated part of Canada's Nunavut Territory, and is usually considered to be the largest uninhabited island in the world. However, each summer since 1999, researchers from NASA's ... More
South Georgia Island: Image of the Day
Located in the Southern Atlantic Ocean roughly 1,700 miles (2,735 km) due east of Argentina's southernmost tip, South Georgia Island was a stop-over point for www.south-pole.com/p0000097.htm Sir Ernest Shackle... More
South Georgia Island: Image of the Day
Located in the Southern Atlantic Ocean roughly 1,700 miles (2,735 km) due east of Argentina's southernmost tip, South Georgia Island was a stop-over point for www.south-pole.com/p0000097.htm Sir Ernest Shackle... More
College Fjord, Alaska: Image of the Day
In the northwestern part of Alaska's Prince William Sound, College Fjord cuts 40 kilometers into the heart of the rugged Chugach Mountains. The fjord contains five tidewater glaciers (glaciers that terminate in... More
Greenland by Air NASA Image of The Day
This photo of the Sondrestrom Glacier in Greenland was taken from a window on NASA's Gulfstream III environmental research aircraft as it flew along the Fjord outside of Kangerlussuaq on June 4. The synthetic a... More
Standing on the Chukchi Sea. NASA public domain image colelction.
Scientists on the sea ice in the Chukchi Sea off the north coast of Alaska disperse equipment on July 4, 2010, as they prepare to collect data on and below the ice. The research is part of NASA's ICESCAPE missi... More
Transantarctic NASA Image of The Day
This image, taken on Nov. 10, 2010, aboard the IceBridge DC-8 flight mapping the Earth's polar regions, shows a Transantarctic mountain glacier. This year's IceBridge campaign is to map Earth's South Polar regi... More
Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica : Image of the Day
This pair of Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) images of the Pine Island Glacier in western Antarctica was acquired on December 12, 2000 during Terra orbit 5246. At left is a conventional, true-color... More
Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica : Image of the Day
Warmer surface temperatures over just a few months in the Antarctic can splinter an ice shelf and prime it for a major collapse, NASA and university scientists report in the latest issue of the Journal of Glaci... More
Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica : Image of the Day
This pair of Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) images of the Pine Island Glacier in western Antarctica was acquired on December 12, 2000 during Terra orbit 5246. At left is a conventional, true-color... More
Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia: Image of the Day
Temperate and green in the summer, the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia freezes over completely in the winter. This true-color image of the Kamchatka Peninsula was acquired on December 12, 2001, by th... More
Victoria Land and Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica: Image of the Day
This true-color modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image, acquired from data collected on October 12, 2001, displays the northwestern portion of the Ross Ice Shelf. S... More
The South Pole and the Ross Sea: Image of the Day
This image shows a rare clear view of the South Pole (lower right) and the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) acquired the scene on December 26, 2001. The geographic South... More
Princess Astrid Coast, Antarctica : Image of the Day
The continent of Antarctica is almost completely covered by a thick blanket of ice, punctuated only by steep mountain peaks and a handful of dry valleys. Antarctica is also ringed by a permanent ice shelf, a... More
Nelson River and Hudson Bay : Image of the Day
Rivers that empty into large bodies of water can have a significant impact on the thawing of nearshore winter ice. This true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from May 18, 2001, ... More
The South Pole and the Ross Sea: Image of the Day
This image shows a rare clear view of the South Pole (lower right) and the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) acquired the scene on December 26, 2001. The geographic South... More
Harsh Winter in Turkey: Image of the Day
The predominantly mountainous terrain of the Republic of Turkey is covered by snow in this Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) true-color image, produced from data collected on January 13, 20... More
Distinguishing Clouds from Ice over the East Siberian Sea, Russia: Ima...
As a consequence of its capability to retrieve cloud-top elevations, stereoscopic observations from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) can discriminate clouds from snow and ice. The central portio... More
Distinguishing Clouds from Ice over the East Siberian Sea, Russia: Ima...
As a consequence of its capability to retrieve cloud-top elevations, stereoscopic observations from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) can discriminate clouds from snow and ice. The central portio... More
Giant Iceberg Drifts out to Sea: Image of the Day
Over the past two and a half years, several unusually large icebergs have calved off of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. While some have made their way out into the Pacific Ocean to melt, others continue to s... More
Clouds and Ice of East Antarctica: Image of the Day
These views from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) illustrate ice surface textures and cloud-top heights over the Amery Ice Shelf/Lambert Glacier system in East Antarctica on October 25, 2002. Th... More
Clouds and Ice of East Antarctica: Image of the Day
These views from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) illustrate ice surface textures and cloud-top heights over the Amery Ice Shelf/Lambert Glacier system in East Antarctica on October 25, 2002. Th... More
Vinson Massif: Image of the Day
Vinson Massif is the tallest mountain in Antarctica. Its peak reaches 4897 m (16,067 ft), though the mountain itself is a large raised feature around thirteen miles long and eight miles wide, dominating the Se... More
Iceberg C-19 in the Ross Sea, Antarctica: Image of the Day
When the sun rose over Antarctica after months of polar darkness, it revealed that a new, large iceberg had calved off the Ross Ice Shelf (bottom left) during Antarctica's long, dark winter. A companion to the ... More
Ellesmere Island National Park Reserve: Image of the Day
The northeastern corner of Ellesmere Island forms the most northerly extent of Canada. This region has been set aside as the Ellesmere Island National Park Reserve. As such, it is the most northerly park on E... More
Iceland: Image of the Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
True to its name, Iceland is shown here covered in a white blanket of ice and snow. Low layers of clouds float over the Greenland Sea (left) and the Atlantic Ocean (bottom). Iceland's southern, low-lying coastl... More
Yukon River Tree Springs to Life: Image of the Day
On the verge of spring, the silvery etching of a tree appears across the winter white of western Alaska. Interlaced branches of waking-up streams weave across the wetlands of the Yukon Delta and reach toward th... More
Melting Snow on Greenland: Image of the Day
As this season's white winter snow melts, the darker bare ice of Greenland's permanent ice cap is being exposed. The contrast between the white snow and the gray-blue ice makes it possible to track melting snow... More
Antarctica's Land and Ice Elevation: Image of the Day
Launched January 12, 2003, NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, is designed to measure the mass balance of Earth's ice sheets (balance between processes that add ice to the ice sheets ver... More
The Erebus glacier in Antarctica comes down from Mt.
The Erebus glacier in Antarctica comes down from Mt. Erebus and protrudes off the coast of Ross Island, forming an 11-12 km long ice tongue -- a long and narrow sheet of ice projecting out from the coastline. T... More
Thawing Ice on Hudson Bay: Image of the Day
With the coming of spring, the ice on Canada's Hudson Bay has begun to break up. Large chunks of ice float near the eastern shore of the bay, while to the west, the center of the bay remains frozen. In the uppe... More
Antarctic Iceberg Gets Stuck: Image of the Day
In early January 2005, it appeared that the earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12676 B-15A iceberg was on a collision course with the Drygalski Ice Tongue, the floating por... More
Breaking Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound: Image of the Day
After remaining a solid mass throughout Southern Hemisphere spring and the first part of summer, sea ice in McMurdo Sound finally began to break into pieces in January 2005. McMurdo Sound passes through an annu... More
Navigating Icebergs in the Antarctic : Image of the Day
September heralds a shift away from the warm, lazy days of summer to the cooler, shorter days of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the time that kids return to school and adults get back to work. For pol... More
Dust Storm off Alaska: Image of the Day
A massive dust storm of glacial sediments swept off the coast of Alaska on November 5, 2005. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (MODIS) flying onboard the aqua.nasa.gov/ A... More
Brattahlid, Norse Greenland: Image of the Day
Naming an island that's 90 percent ice-covered ''Greenland'' may seem ironic, but the Norse settlers who arrived in AD 985 found a few pockets of vegetation amid the barren rock and snow. Most of these settleme... More
High-Resolution Mosaic of Antarctica: Image of the Day
At the ''bottom'' of the globe lies the coldest, windiest, and driest place on Earth: Antarctica. All but about 2 percent of the 14 million-square-kilometer (5.4 million-square-mile) land surface is covered wit... More
Sea Ice off Greenland Coast: Image of the Day
Along the northeastern coast of Greenland, glaciers and ocean currents sometimes produce an eye-catching display of shapes and colors. On July 25, 2006, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer modis.... More
Sea Ice in the Beaufort Sea: Image of the Day
From the time Europeans discovered the North American continent to the mid-twentieth century, sailors searched for a northwest passage that would connect the Atlantic Ocean (and Europe) to the Pacific Ocean (an... More
Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina: Image of the Day
Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina encompasses mountains, lakes, forests, and glaciers in the Andes along the Chilean border. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared ... More
Greenland Ice Sheet: Image of the Day
In 2002, melt of snow and ice on the Greenland ice sheet broke all known records. In 2005, satellite data indicated a new record in total melt extent on the Greenland ice sheet. June falls about midway through ... More
Polynya North of Alaska: Image of the Day
In August 2006, a -- an irregularly shaped area of open water -- developed within the Arctic sea ice. Polynyas are not unusual, and some form in about the same place year after year, such as the ''Northwater P... More
Cloud Streets in the Bering Sea: Image of the Day
Like the freshly raked white sand of a well-tended Japanese garden, rows of clouds stream over the Bering Sea from the edge of the sea ice. Called cloud streets, these cumulus clouds form when cold air from the... More
Cloud Streets off the Amery Ice Shelf: Image of the Day
At mid- and high latitudes during the winter, clouds often form neat, parallel rows. Called these formations can persist for hundreds of kilometers if the land or water surface underneath is uniform. Persisten... More
On August 13, 2005, the Ayles Ice Shelf on Ellesmere
On August 13, 2005, the Ayles Ice Shelf on Ellesmere Island in northern Canada broke away from the island and floated out to sea. According to news reports, the break took less than an hour, and Luke Copland, d... More
Ocean Color in the Gulf of Alaska: Image of the Day
The winter-white Alaska shoreline provides a vivid contrast to the turquoise swirls in the black waters of the Gulf of Alaska. This burst of color in an otherwise black-and-white scene is caused by sediment, gr... More
Sapphire-blue pools connected by threadlike streams
Sapphire-blue pools connected by threadlike streams of water dot the western edge of the Greenland ice sheet in this image, taken on August 6, 2000, by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor aboard the Landsa... More
Melting Days on Greenland: Image of the Day
Greenland is the world's largest island, containing the second largest ice sheet on Earth, with a surface extent of approximately 1.75 million square kilometers and an average thickness of 2.3 kilometers (1.6 m... More
Sea of Okhotsk : Image of the Day
Tucked between Siberia and Russia's frozen Kamchatka Peninsula, the Sea of Okhotsk was a field of ice when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( modis.gsfc.nasa.gov MODIS ) on NASA's terra.nasa.g... More
Subglacial Lakes, Antarctica: Image of the Day
To the untrained eye, Antarctica may look like a giant piece of solid ice that rarely changes, but scientists studying the continent have long known better. The icy surface is dynamic, with glaciers and ''strea... More
In March 2000, an iceberg the size of a small U.S.
In March 2000, an iceberg the size of a small U.S. state cracked off the leading edge of Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. Originally the giant berg, named B-15, was about 300 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide ... More
For many years, scientists have expected that climate
For many years, scientists have expected that climate change will be more rapid and dramatic at the poles than at lower latitudes, an expectation that has been demonstrated both with climate models and recent o... More
Summer on the Antarctic Peninsula: Image of the Day
A cloud-free afternoon over the Antarctic Peninsula on February 9, 2007, provided this striking image of rugged, snow-covered mountains; glacier-filled valleys; and smooth, broad expanses of ice shelves hanging... More
Summer Thaw, Eastern Greenland: Image of the Day
Summer thaw was underway on the fringe of eastern Greenland when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer modis.gsfc.nasa.gov (MODIS) on NASA's terra.nasa.gov Terra satellite passed overhead and ca... More
Ice Jams the Ob River: Image of the Day
Russia's Ob River flows from south to north, and each summer, it thaws in the same direction. The result is that an ice jam sits downstream from thawed portions of the river, which is laden with heavy runoff fr... More
Petermann Glacier, Greenland: Image of the Day
On Greenland, tens of thousands of years of snowfall have settled and solidified into a massive sheet of ice. Each summer, snow retreats briefly at low elevations, and a narrow strip of rocky coastline emerges.... More
Prince Olav Coast, Antarctica: Image of the Day
Ice fringes the coast of Antarctica, but not all of that ice looks or acts the same. This cloud-free view of East Antarctica's Prince Olav Coast, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer m... More
Prince Olav Coast, Antarctica: Image of the Day
Ice fringes the coast of Antarctica, but not all of that ice looks or acts the same. This cloud-free view of East Antarctica's Prince Olav Coast, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer m... More
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December is a time when days get steadily shorter and colder as winter settles in. In the south, however, December is the start of summer. Long sunlit days heat th... More
Cloud Streets Across Caspian Sea: Image of the Day
The Caspian Sea and the surrounding landscape were swathed in winter white on January 10, 2008, when this image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer modis.gsfc.nasa.gov (MODIS) on... More
Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica: Image of the Day
Just around the corner from the Antarctic Peninsula, the Pine Island Glacier has been the focus of scientific attention for many years. Observations over the past few decades show that the glacier has lost elev... More
In April 2005, the A53a iceberg calved off the Larsen
In April 2005, the A53a iceberg calved off the Larsen Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula and began drifting north. As it headed north, the iceberg encountered warmer temperatures and, nearly three years later... More
Of the 15 million square kilometers of sea ice that
Of the 15 million square kilometers of sea ice that form on average in the Arctic Ocean each winter, more than 45 percent usually persists through the summer. Because of differences in geography, saltiness, and... More
Ice shelves are thick slabs of ice that are attached
Ice shelves are thick slabs of ice that are attached to coastlines and extend out over the ocean. In the natural course of events, ice shelves often calve large icebergs. Beginning in the mid-1990s, however, so... More
A mosaic of sea ice shifted across the Bering Sea west
A mosaic of sea ice shifted across the Bering Sea west of Alaska on February 5, 2008. On either side of the Bering Strait (top center), the land was blanketed with snow that highlighted the mountainous terrain.... More
Algae Bloom in Antarctic Sea Ice: Image of the Day
It was late summer in the Southern Hemisphere when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer modis.gsfc.nasa.gov (MODIS) on NASA's aqua.nasa.gov Aqua satellite captured this photo-like image of Anta... More
Swirling Sediment in Gulf of Alaska: Image of the Day
Soft shades of turquoise and tan color the waters of the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound in this photo-like image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( modis.gsfc.nasa.gov MODI... More
Summer in Greenland: Image of the Day
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 solst... More
Just as the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Zambezi, the
Just as the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Zambezi, the Yangtze, and Earth's other mighty rivers drain the continents, rivers also drain Antarctica, only in this frozen landscape, the rivers are ice. Under their ... More
MODIS image of the Bering Sea, Bering Strait and southern
MODIS image of the Bering Sea, Bering Strait and southern Arctic Ocean acquired 7 May 2000. Image generated from MODIS band 2 (0.85 microns) at 250 m spatial resolution. Detailed structure and leads in the ic... More
This Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
This Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) image was acquired on December 1, 2000. Pine Island Glacier has undergone a steady loss of elevation with retreat of the grounding lin... More
The Erebus glacier in Antarctica comes down from Mt.
The Erebus glacier in Antarctica comes down from Mt. Erebus and protrudes off the coast of Ross Island, forming an 11-12 km long ice tongue -- a long and narrow sheet of ice projecting out from the coastline. T... More
For many years, scientists have expected that climate
For many years, scientists have expected that climate change will be more rapid and dramatic at the poles than at lower latitudes, an expectation that has been demonstrated both with climate models and recent o... More
Sapphire-blue pools connected by threadlike streams
Sapphire-blue pools connected by threadlike streams of water dot the western edge of the Greenland ice sheet in this image, taken on August 6, 2000, by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor aboard the Landsa... More
In March 2000, an iceberg the size of a small U.S.
In March 2000, an iceberg the size of a small U.S. state cracked off the leading edge of Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. Originally the giant berg, named B-15, was about 300 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide ... More
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December is a time when days get steadily shorter and colder as winter settles in. In the south, however, December is the start of summer. Long sunlit days heat th... More
Of the 15 million square kilometers of sea ice that
Of the 15 million square kilometers of sea ice that form on average in the Arctic Ocean each winter, more than 45 percent usually persists through the summer. Because of differences in geography, saltiness, and... More
In April 2005, the A53a iceberg calved off the Larsen
In April 2005, the A53a iceberg calved off the Larsen Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula and began drifting north. As it headed north, the iceberg encountered warmer temperatures and, nearly three years later... More
A mosaic of sea ice shifted across the Bering Sea west
A mosaic of sea ice shifted across the Bering Sea west of Alaska on February 5, 2008. On either side of the Bering Strait (top center), the land was blanketed with snow that highlighted the mountainous terrain.... More
Ice shelves are thick slabs of ice that are attached
Ice shelves are thick slabs of ice that are attached to coastlines and extend out over the ocean. In the natural course of events, ice shelves often calve large icebergs. Beginning in the mid-1990s, however, so... More
On August 13, 2005, the Ayles Ice Shelf on Ellesmere
On August 13, 2005, the Ayles Ice Shelf on Ellesmere Island in northern Canada broke away from the island and floated out to sea. According to news reports, the break took less than an hour, and Luke Copland, d... More
In early March 2007, ice advanced and retreated over
In early March 2007, ice advanced and retreated over the surface of Lake Erie, along the United States-Canada border. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer modis.gsfc.nasa.gov (MODIS) on NASA's a... More
In a photo-like satellite image, the faintest of shadows
In a photo-like satellite image, the faintest of shadows or shading of grey may give them away, but more often, clouds over the poles simply disappear against the background, camouflaged from the satellite's vi... More
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December is a time when days get steadily shorter and colder as winter settles in. In the south, however, December is the start of summer. Long sunlit days heat th... More
Ice shelves are thick slabs of ice that are attached
Ice shelves are thick slabs of ice that are attached to coastlines and extend out over the ocean. In the natural course of events, ice shelves often calve large icebergs. Beginning in the mid-1990s, however, so... More
In early March 2007, ice advanced and retreated over
In early March 2007, ice advanced and retreated over the surface of Lake Erie, along the United States-Canada border. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer modis.gsfc.nasa.gov (MODIS) on NASA's a... More
In a photo-like satellite image, the faintest of shadows
In a photo-like satellite image, the faintest of shadows or shading of grey may give them away, but more often, clouds over the poles simply disappear against the background, camouflaged from the satellite's vi... More
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December is a time when days get steadily shorter and colder as winter settles in. In the south, however, December is the start of summer. Long sunlit days heat th... More
In April 2005, the A53a iceberg calved off the Larsen
In April 2005, the A53a iceberg calved off the Larsen Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula and began drifting north. As it headed north, the iceberg encountered warmer temperatures and, nearly three years later... More
Off the coast of Greenland lies an island resembling
Off the coast of Greenland lies an island resembling a bony claw. Long connected to Greenland's coast by ice, the island escaped recognition for what it was for nearly a century. The island might have been disc... More
Off the coast of Greenland lies an island resembling
Off the coast of Greenland lies an island resembling a bony claw. Long connected to Greenland's coast by ice, the island escaped recognition for what it was for nearly a century. The island might have been disc... More