NASA's NISAR mission captured a sharp radar image of East Antarctica showing a landform about the width of a major highway shaped like a hummingbird in flight. The bird like feature stretches across a broad region, and the radar sweep revealed fine details hidden beneath the frozen layer. Scientists say the arrangement comes from old glacial erosion combined with the land below the ice cap. The team describe the result as a quiet reminder of how glaciers can carve rock into recognizable shapes over long spans of time. The view was released in late July within NASA's active program to map Antarctic ice with radar based tools. The agency highlights the mission as a useful advance in sheet science. Agency leaders also note that the work refines studies of climate shifts and sea level rise. They say similar reads will continue in the next stretch. Photo set like this are expected to draw attention from both experts and the casual readers. The mission is being run jointly across two major government groups. They say the satellite was designed to record small shifts in the ground level. The hummingbird image has already picked up wide online attention. Several readers said the outline looked eerily lifelike.
Sources & References
-
NASA's NISAR Captures "Hummingbird"-Like Pattern Beneath Antarctica's Ice - NDTV
NASA's NISAR Captures "Hummingbird"-Like Pattern Beneath Antarctica's Ice NDTV
-
Satellite Image of Antarctic Mountain Resembles Hummingbird - SSBCrack
Satellite Image of Antarctic Mountain Resembles Hummingbird SSBCrack