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Two Columns

Yearly Archives Available on this Topic

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NASA's Role in the International Polar Year
2.26.07 -- NASA scientists discuss the role of the agency in the International Polar Year. NASA will study the polar regions of Earth using its system of Earth-observing satellites and explore the poles of Mars and the moon.
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Sea Ice and Cloud Streets in the Sea of Okhotsk
2.8.07 -- Tucked between Siberia and Russia’s frozen Kamchatka Peninsula, the Sea of Okhotsk was a field of ice when the Terra satellite captured this photo-like image on February 6, 2007.
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Detecting Clouds Over Snow and Ice
2.3.07 -- NASA sensors that can detect visible and invisible (infrared) light make it possible to separate clouds from snow and ice in satellite images of the poles.
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Detailed View of Arctic Sea Ice
2.1.07 -- Sea ice is spread across the nearly black backdrop of the Arctic Ocean in a broken mosaic in this image from NASA's Landsat 7 satellite on June 16, 2001. Large blocks of ice swirl against finely crushed ice that looks almost like foam.
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Russia's Lena River Delta
1.25.07 -- During the short summer of Russia's Far North, the Lena River Delta thaws and becomes an ecological haven. Scientists are interested in the area because changes in the freshwater runoff as well as the depth of the delta's permafrost are indicators of Arctic climate change.
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Satellites Detect Collapse of Arctic's Ayles Ice Shelf
1.13.07 -- On Aug. 13, 2005, warming Arctic temperatures caused the Ayles Ice Shelf on Ellesmere Island in northern Canada to break away from the island and float out to sea.
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Exploring the Lunar Surface
12.4.06 -- NASA announced in December 2006 the initial elements of the Global Exploration Strategy and a proposed U.S. lunar architecture, two critical tools for achieving the nation's vision of returning humans to the moon.
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Satellites Detect Retreating Ice and Snow in Greenland
11.25.06 -- Greenland's ice sheet is losing mass, particularly in the Southeast. This image shows retreat of glaciers in southeastern Greenland.
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NASA and NOAA Announce 2006 Antarctic Ozone Hole is a Record Breaker
10.19.06 -- Scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report that this year's ozone hole in the polar region of the Southern Hemisphere has broken records for area and depth.
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Chasma Boreale Near Mars' North Pole
10.16.06 -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals fine-scale details of the layers along a deep canyon's walls in Mars' north polar ice sheet. The canyon is a mile deep cleft into the ice sheet. Scientists do not know what caused its formation.
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Antarctic Ozone Hole: Annual Maximum Thinning (1979-2006)
9.24.06 -- The 2006 ozone hole in the polar region of the Southern Hemisphere was the largest ever observed. This animation shows the annual maximum thinning of ozone (resulting in the largest ozone hole for each year) from 1979-2006.
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A Tour of the Cryosphere:Earth's Frozen Assets
3.23.06 -- In a little more than seven minutes, NASA data visualizers lead viewers across the icy reaches of Antarctica, the drifting expanse of polar sea ice, the shrinking cap around the North Pole, and more.
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Four Years of South Polar Changes
9.20.05 -- A series of images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor show that for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's ize, suggesting a climate change is in progress.
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NASA's Orbiting Earth-Observing Fleet
9.2.05 -- NASA's Earth-observing fleet of spacecraft constitutes a major milestone in the history of Earth science, facilitating pioneering research endeavors that until the last decade have been impossible to even consider. See the orbits of this fleet as they circle the globe.
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Record Low Arctic Sea Ice in June 2005
7.26.05 -- Except for a small area in the East Greenland Sea, Arctic sea ice has retreated almost everywhere in June 2005. This month, which marks the start of the Arctic melt season, set a new record low.
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Fastest Glacier in Greenland Doubles Speed
12.1.04 -- Scientists who study Earth's ice and the flow of glaciers have been surprised to find that the world's fastest glacier in Greenland doubled its speed between 1997 and 2003.
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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
10.26.04 -- NASA plans to launch in 2008 the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The mission will map the lunar surface, search for surface ice deposits and investigate space radiation. NASA's mission to extend human exploration into the solar system embraces the International Polar Year as we study the poles of our own moon.
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Arctic Sea Ice Decline Continues Between 2002-2004
10.6.04 -- Every September researchers produce a map of Arctic sea ice and compare that year's measurements to the long-term average. The ice extent was 13.4 percent less than average in September 2004, 12 percent below average in 2003, and 15 percent below average in 2002.
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Larsen-B Ice Shelf Collapse, 2002
9.21.04 -- In 2002, after 12,000 years of stability, the Larsen-B Ice shelf collapsed in just five weeks. The ice shelves that surround half of the Antarctic continent slow the relentless march of ice streams and glaciers to the ocean.
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GRACE and Ice
2.24.04 -- As NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) twin satellites travel over areas of snow and ice sheets such as Greenland and Antarctica, changes in mass are recorded. This information, along with measurements from the ground and other satellites will enable scientists to determine if these areas are growing or shrinking.
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Phoenix: A Mission to the Martian Arctic
1.1.04 -- In 2008, NASA's Phoenix mission will land at the icy northern pole of Mars. Using a robotic arm, Phoenix will dig trenches and use its on-board laboratory to analyze the samples. Phoenix will reveal a clearer picture of the history of the Martian arctic.
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Breakup of the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica
3.20.02 -- NASA satellite imagery revealed that the northern section of the Larsen B ice shelf, a large floating ice mass on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, shattered and separated from the continent in 2002.
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