These satellite-based maps show sea ice concentration in the Arctic and Antarctic during September 2008 and February 2009, the months of the sea ice maximums and minimums in the respective hemispheres.
New elevation measurements will give researchers an unprecedented understanding of the thickness of sea ice, which will be used to help improve climate modeling and forecasts.
This map shows sea ice extent around Antarctica on September 22, 2013, when ice covered more of the Southern Ocean than at any other time in the satellite record.
A spectacular view of sea ice was captured during an Operation IceBridge flight in 2014; the mission surveyed ice at both poles again in 2015, this time simultaneously.
This pair of images shows Antarctic sea ice concentrations at the 2008 winter maximum and the 2009 summer minimum compared to the median ice extent from 1979–2000.
On February 24, 2008—late summer in the Southern Hemisphere—the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of lingering sea ice in the Southern Ocean.