NASA's NISAR Satellite Reveals Hummingbird-Shaped Antarctic Ice Fractures

A remarkable visual phenomenon resembling a hummingbird has been captured in Antarctica by a NASA satellite image. Released on Tuesday, this image utilizes data from the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, a collaborative effort between the United States and India. The radar data, gathered during system testing in August 2025, highlights Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountain in East Antarctica, which towers above an ice stream flowing northeast toward the ocean. As the glacier moves past the mountain, its topography induces stress in the ice, resulting in deep crevasses that appear as sharp green lines. NISAR scientists coined the 'hummingbird' nickname, with the glacier representing the bird's tail and the crevasses symbolizing its feathers. Seongsu Jeong, a signal analysis engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, emphasized the mission's ability to reveal hidden features beneath the ice. This image demonstrates NISAR's potential to deliver detailed radar imagery of Earth's surface, aiding in the understanding of glacial dynamics and climate change.