NASA's IceBridge in the Arctic Circle

Operation IceBridge studies the processes that link the polar regions with the Earth's climate system. Rapidly changing polar ice means researchers need to use highly sophisticated airborne technology to measure annual changes in thickness and movement - onboard a retrofitted 1966 Lockheed P-3 aircraft.

It's all part of a six-year project under NASA's Cryosphere Program, in which researchers are carrying out a series of eight-hour flights over Greenland (from March to May) and Antarctica (October to November) in order to accurately model a three-dimensional view of ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ice.

In 2003, NASA launched a satellite called ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite) for the purpose of monitoring changes in polar ice. However, it suddenly stopped collecting data in 2009. With ICESat-II not expected to be ready for launch until 2018, researchers needed to somehow bridge the nine-year data gap between the two satellites.

Enter operation IceBridge, which has been keeping a close eye on the polar ice - as well as its cute inhabitants - while ICESat-II is prepped for launch next year. Or is the hare rather watching over these strange bipeds?

The data collected during these missions is critical for researchers in predicting the effects climate change is already having on the polar ice, including a rise in sea levels. According to NASA scientists, on March 7, 2017, sea ice in the Arctic reached the lowest maximum wintertime extent ever recorded.

A glacier is visible through mist above Ellesmere Island. Operation IceBridge allows scientists gather valuable data by using special ice-penetrating radar, which only functions properly when used in lower altitudes.

Scientists have long warned that the Arctic Circle will be one of the regions hit hardest by climate change - and effects are already becoming evident. The darker the color, the thinner the ice.

Once ICESat-II is up and running, it will have the ability to take continuous measurements over a much wider area - unlike the current aircraft-based method, which is limited only to annual surveys.

Icebergs are locked in sea ice, as seen from the research aircraft along the Upper Baffin Bay coast above Greenland. Aircraft-based research allows its human pilots to focus on specific areas of scientific interest, rather than simply conducting a flyover on a fixed path.

As in Greenland, the ice fields of Ellesmere Island in Canada are also gradually retreating due to warming temperatures. The future of ICESat-II is now in question, as US President Donald Trump has pledged to strip funding for NASA's entire earth science program.