A NASA and Indian Space Research Organisation satellite has captured a detailed radar image of a fractured Antarctic landscape that resembles a massive magenta-green hummingbird. According to NASA, the striking formation actually maps a mountaintop in East Antarctica called Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, where flowing glacial ice creates deep surface cracks.
NISAR Satellite Captures Antarctic Mountaintop
Teams in the United States and India collected the data using two powerful radar instruments aboard the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite. Released by NASA on Tuesday, the image reveals a barren landscape dominated by glacier data that forms the distinct shape of a small purple bird. According to NASA, the underlying geological feature is Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast toward the ocean.
As the moving glacier passes the mountain obstruction, the topography causes severe stresses in the ice. This process heavily fractures the surrounding surfaces with deep cracks known as crevasses, which appear as sharp green lines in the satellite data. The feature resembling a bird’s tail is actually a glacier extending northeast toward the ocean, while the feathers spreading from the peak represent the deep fractures in the ice and rock.
Radar Technology Reveals Hidden Subsurface Ice Properties
The image was generated using measurements collected in August 2025 by NISAR’s L-band radar system while U.S. and Indian mission teams tested the satellite’s systems. Seongsu Jeong, the signal analysis engineer who produced the image at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, explained the technical advantages of the mission.
“First, it’s a beautiful image, with rich details of features that provide insights to how the glacier is moving,” Jeong said in a statement. “Then, because radar can often see through snow and deep into the ice, NISAR can observe fundamentally different properties of Antarctic ice than can be seen in optical imagery. With NISAR we’re seeing what’s hidden beneath the surface.”
Understanding Antarctic Glacial Fractures
The creation of the hummingbird shape demonstrates how L-band instruments monitor polar regions. As glaciers move downhill toward the sea, the friction and resistance from protruding peaks like Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja cause the surface to split. These structural failures produce the crevasse fields captured by the satellite testing phase.
Worth a look