In photos: NASA studying the rapid decline of Arctic ice
NASA's Operation IceBridge has been studying how polar ice has evolved over the past nine years and is currently flying a set of eight-hour research flights over ice sheets and the Arctic Ocean to monitor Arctic ice loss aboard a retrofitted 1966 Lockheed P-3 aircraft. According to NASA scientists and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), sea ice in the Arctic appears to have reached its lowest maximum wintertime extent ever recorded on March 7. Scientists have said the Arctic has been one of the regions hardest hit by climate change.
A section of a glacier is seen from NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft above Ellesmere Island, Canada.Mario Tama/Getty Images
People hike near Thule Air Base in Pituffik, Greenland.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Sea ice (TOP) meets land as seen from NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft along the Upper Baffin Bay coast on above Greenland.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Flight crew work in the cockpit of NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft above Ellesmere Island, Canada.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Sea ice is seen from NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft off the northwest coast above Greenland.Mario Tama/Getty Images
A section of ice sheet is seen from NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft along the Upper Baffin Bay coast above Greenland.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Sea ice is seen from NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft off the northeast coast above Greenland.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Crevasses in a glacier are seen from NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft along the Upper Baffin Bay coast above Greenland.Mario Tama/Getty Images
A snowshoe hare stands near Thule Air Base in Pituffik, Greenland.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Project scientist Nathan Kurtz and senior support scientist Jeremy Harbeck walk on their way to survey an iceberg locked in sea ice near Thule Air Base in Pituffik, Greenland.Mario Tama/Getty Images