NISAR Satellite Data Reveals Antarctic Ice Feature Resembling Hummingbird
7 reported
As of July 20, the public can access data from the two radar instruments aboard the NISAR satellite, a joint mission between NASA and ISRO. An early image released Tuesday shows the fractured, barren surface of an Antarctic landscape that resembles a hummingbird. The image depicts Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, surrounded by ice flowing northeast to the ocean. The mountain’s topography causes stresses in the ice, creating deep cracks called crevasses that appear as sharp green lines in the image. The colors in the image represent differences in how polarized microwave signals interact with and reflect from the ice. The U.S. side of the mission began releasing calibrated products continuously for all L-band measurements collected since June 17 on July 20. The NISAR satellite is the first free-flying space mission to feature two radar instruments: an L-band system and an S-band system.
What’s reported
As of July 20, the public can access data from NISAR’s L-band and S-band radar instruments.
An early image released Tuesday shows an Antarctic landscape resembling a hummingbird.
The image shows Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, with ice flowing northeast to the ocean.
The mountain’s topography causes stresses in the ice, creating crevasses that appear as sharp green lines.
Colors in the image show differences in how polarized microwave signals interact with and reflect from the ice.
The U.S. side of the mission started releasing calibrated products continuously for all L-band measurements collected since June 17 on July 20.
The NISAR satellite is the first free-flying space mission to feature two radar instruments: an L-band system and an S-band system.
Key figures
Seongsu Jeong, signal analysis engineer who produced the image at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Sources: NASA
