US-India NISAR Satellite Data Reveals Antarctic 'Hummingbird' Image

Scientists have released the first public data from the NISAR satellite, a joint U.S.-India Earth-observation mission, including a striking radar image of an Antarctic mountain that resembles a hummingbird. The image shows Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, surrounded by heavily fractured ice as a glacier flows past it toward the ocean. The data became accessible to the public on July 20, with ongoing releases planned from both NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The release benefits researchers and other users who will track the movement of land and ice, monitor changes in forests and wetlands, and respond to natural hazards such as landslides and earthquakes. The Antarctic image was generated from measurements taken by NISAR’s L-band radar in August 2025, during system testing. The colors in the image indicate different radar signal interactions: magenta shows smooth ice, green shows fractured ice or crevasses, and white indicates a mix of surface and volume scattering.

This data release comes ahead of the first anniversary of NISAR’s launch on July 30, 2025, from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Since launch, the mission teams have calibrated instruments, refined algorithms, and surveyed nearly all land- and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days. The satellite carries two radar instruments—L-band and S-band—making it the first free-flying space mission with such dual capability.

NISAR’s L-band data have been released continuously since June 17, with calibrated products available from July 20. The Indian team began releasing S-band data via the Bhoonidhi portal. Earlier limited releases included about 25 sample products in January and thousands of pre-calibrated products in February. All data are hosted at the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center. The mission produces dozens of terabytes of data daily due to its frequent global coverage.

Looking ahead, the NISAR team expects to release all data acquired during early science operations by the end of the year. The mission’s ability to see through snow and ice, revealing hidden structures, will continue to provide insights into glacier movement and other Earth processes.