NASA Releases 450-Mile-High NISAR Image of Antarctic Ice as Crevasses Form 'Hummingbird'
Updated
Updated · Digital Camera World · Aug 10
NASA Releases 450-Mile-High NISAR Image of Antarctic Ice as Crevasses Form 'Hummingbird'
3 articles · Updated · Digital Camera World · Aug 10
Summary
A newly released NISAR radar image shows a vast East Antarctic ice field resembling a magenta-and-green hummingbird, with the pattern centered on Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, or “lost mountain.”
Radar from roughly 450 miles above Earth mapped the glacier’s surface and subsurface structure: smooth, unstressed ice appears magenta, while stress-driven crevasses around the mountain show up as sharp green lines.
NASA said the image offers scientists rich detail on how the glacier is moving, because NISAR’s radar can penetrate snow and deep ice that would otherwise look like featureless white terrain.
Launched in July 2025, the joint NASA-ISRO satellite has also imaged cities, farmland, landslides, earthquakes and subsiding ground, with both agencies now releasing its data publicly on an ongoing basis.