This stunning satellite image shows a trio of barren islands in the Russian Arctic, offering a rare glimpse at the colorful, concentric rings of the region's ever-present ice caps.
The region was only discovered in 1913 and was not properly visited until a couple decades later, making it one of the last of Earth's major archipelagos to be properly mapped, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. For most of the year, these islands are largely covered by ice and snow and are connected to one another by thick sea ice. But for around two months every summer, temperatures creep above freezing, enabling some of the frozen water to melt away, which exposes the barren landscape beneath. The only things that live there are lichens and a few bushes.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.The ice caps, which can reach up to 820 feet tall, are made up of multi-year ice, meaning that additional layers of snow are compacted into their icy summits every winter while they also lose ice to the summer melt. When viewed from above, this cycle of melting and refreezing creates the stunning concentric rings of color seen in this image, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.