LOOK: NASA photos show Antarctic Ice in decline
From yesterday’s #IceBridge flight: Looking out from the sea ice to iceberg A68, which calved from Antarctica’s Larson C ice shelf in July pic.twitter.com/0oq9dzUbz1
— NASA ICE (@NASA_ICE) November 1, 2017
Apart from its work beyond the cosmos, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also conducts studies to further understand the connection between polar regions and the global climate system.
For the past nine years, its special project, “Operation IceBridge,” has been observing the evolution of polar ice caps by measuring snow depth, ice elevation and thickness, surface temperature, bed topography and other characteristics of sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers, Fortune reports.
NASA shared the stunning images on its social media accounts, captured by Getty Images photojournalist Mario Tama while aboard a retrofitted 1966 Lockheed P-3 aircraft in Ushuaia, Argentina, earlier this month.
From yesterday’s #IceBridge flight: The western edge of iceberg A68, which calved in July; new edge of Larsen C Ice Shelf in the distance pic.twitter.com/DsCoSLWDbU
— NASA ICE (@NASA_ICE) November 1, 2017
From yesterday’s #IceBridge flight: The northern edge of massive iceberg A68, which calved off Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf in July. pic.twitter.com/qxcuuFS7tY
— NASA ICE (@NASA_ICE) October 30, 2017
The photos featured an up-close glimpse of the massive A68 iceberg, calved from Larsen B Ice Shelf last July.
Nearby ice shelves, meanwhile, have already disintegrated due to global warming, including the aforementioned Larsen B Ice Shelf, which was estimated to be larger than the whole state of Delaware.
NASA also warned that finding from the “IceBridge data” indicated that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, as well as the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, has become vulnerable to melting due to the increase of air and sea temperatures. Khristian Ibarrola /ra
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