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NASA is targeting no earlier than April 8 for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet.

Before the 4-pound rotorcraft can attempt its first flight, however, both it and its team must meet a series of daunting milestones.

Ingenuity remains attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which touched down on Mars Feb. 18.

On March 21, the rover deployed the guitar case-shaped graphite composite debris shield that protected Ingenuity during landing. The rover currently is in transit to the “airfield” where Ingenuity will attempt to fly. Once deployed, Ingenuity will have 30 Martian days, or sols, (31 Earth days) to conduct its test flight campaign.

“When NASA’s Sojourner rover landed on Mars in 1997, it proved that roving the Red Planet was possible and completely redefined our approach to how we explore Mars. Similarly, we want to learn about the potential Ingenuity has for the future of science research,” said Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. “Aptly named, Ingenuity is a technology demonstration that aims to be the first powered flight on another world and, if successful, could further expand our horizons and broaden the scope of what is possible with Mars exploration.”

Flying in a controlled manner on Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth. The Red Planet has significant gravity (about one-third that of Earth’s) but its atmosphere is just 1% as dense as Earth’s at the surface.

During Martian daytime, the planet’s surface receives only about half the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth during its daytime, and nighttime temperatures can drop as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius), which can freeze and crack unprotected electrical components.

To fit within the available accommodations provided by the Perseverance rover, the Ingenuity helicopter must be small. To fly in the Mars environment, it must be lightweight. To survive the frigid Martian nights, it must have enough energy to power internal heaters.

The system – from the performance of its rotors in rarified air to its solar panels, electrical heaters, and other components – has been tested and retested in the vacuum chambers and test labs of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“Every step we have taken since this journey began six years ago has been uncharted territory in the history of aircraft,” said Bob Balaram, Mars Helicopter chief engineer at JPL. “And while getting deployed to the surface will be a big challenge, surviving that first night on Mars alone, without the rover protecting it and keeping it powered, will be an even bigger one.”

Deploying the helicopter

Before Ingenuity takes its first flight on Mars, it must be squarely in the middle of its airfield – a 33-by-33-foot (10-by-10-meter) patch of Martian real estate chosen for its flatness and lack of obstructions.

Once the helicopter and rover teams confirm that Perseverance is situated exactly where they want it to be inside the airfield, the elaborate process to deploy the helicopter on the surface of Mars begins.

“As with everything with the helicopter, this type of deployment has never been done before,” said Farah Alibay, Mars Helicopter integration lead for the Perseverance rover. “Once we start the deployment there is no turning back. All activities are closely coordinated, irreversible, and dependent on each other. If there is even a hint that something isn’t going as expected, we may decide to hold off for a sol or more until we have a better idea what is going on.”

The helicopter deployment process will take about six sols (six days, four hours on Earth). On the first sol, the team on Earth will activate a bolt-breaking device, releasing a locking mechanism that helped hold the helicopter firmly against the rover’s belly during launch and Mars landing.

The following sol, they will fire a cable-cutting pyrotechnic device, enabling the mechanized arm that holds Ingenuity to begin rotating the helicopter out of its horizontal position. This is also when the rotorcraft will extend two of its four landing legs.

During the third sol of the deployment sequence, a small electric motor will finish rotating Ingenuity until it latches, bringing the helicopter completely vertical. During the fourth sol, the final two landing legs will snap into position. On each of those four sols, the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON) imager will take confirmation shots of Ingenuity as it incrementally unfolds into its flight configuration.

In its final position, the helicopter will hang suspended at about 5 inches over the Martian surface. At that point, only a single bolt and a couple dozen tiny electrical contacts will connect the helicopter to Perseverance. On the fifth sol of deployment, the team will use the final opportunity to utilize Perseverance as a power source and charge Ingenuity’s six battery cells.

“Once we cut the cord with Perseverance and drop those final five inches to the surface, we want to have our big friend drive away as quickly as possible so we can get the Sun’s rays on our solar panel and begin recharging our batteries,” said Balaram.

On the sixth and final scheduled sol of this deployment phase, the team will need to confirm three things: that Ingenuity’s four legs are firmly on the surface of Jezero Crater, that the rover did, indeed, drive about 16 feet (about 5 meters) away, and that both helicopter and rover are communicating via their onboard radios. This milestone also initiates the 30-sol clock during which time all preflight checks and flight tests must take place.

“Ingenuity is an experimental engineering flight test – we want to see if we can fly at Mars,” said MiMi Aung, project manager for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at JPL. “There are no science instruments onboard and no goals to obtain scientific information. We are confident that all the engineering data we want to obtain both on the surface of Mars and aloft can be done within this 30-sol window.”

As with deployment, the helicopter and rover teams will approach the upcoming flight test methodically. If the team misses or has questions about an important preflight milestone, they may take one or more sols to better understand the issue.

If the helicopter survives the first night of the sequence period on the surface of Mars, however, the team will spend the next several sols doing everything possible to ensure a successful flight, including wiggling the rotor blades and verifying the performance of the inertial measurement unit, as well as testing the entire rotor system during a spin-up to 2,537 rpm (while Ingenuity’s landing gear remain firmly on the surface).

Once the team is ready to attempt the first flight, Perseverance will receive and relay to Ingenuity the final flight instructions from JPL mission controllers. Several factors will determine the precise time for the flight, including modeling of local wind patterns plus measurements taken by the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) aboard Perseverance. Ingenuity will run its rotors to 2,537 rpm and, if all final self-checks look good, lift off. After climbing at a rate of about 3 feet per second (1 meter per second), the helicopter will hover at 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Then, the Mars Helicopter will descend and touch back down on the Martian surface.

Several hours after the first flight has occurred, Perseverance will downlink Ingenuity’s first set of engineering data and, possibly, images and video from the rover’s Navigation Cameras and Mastcam-Z. From the data downlinked that first evening after the flight, the Mars Helicopter team expect to be able to determine if their first attempt to fly at Mars was a success.

On the following sol, all the remaining engineering data collected during the flight, as well as some low-resolution black-and-white imagery from the helicopter’s own Navigation Camera, could be downlinked to JPL. The third sol of this phase, the two images taken by the helicopter’s high-resolution color camera should arrive. The Mars Helicopter team will use all information available to determine when and how to move forward with their next test.

“Mars is hard,” said Aung. “Our plan is to work whatever the Red Planet throws at us the very same way we handled every challenge we’ve faced over the past six years – together, with tenacity and a lot of hard work, and a little Ingenuity.”

A piece of history

While Ingenuity will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, the first powered, controlled flight on Earth took place Dec. 17, 1903, on the windswept dunes of Kill Devil Hill, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville and Wilbur Wright covered 120 feet in 12 seconds during the first flight. The Wright brothers made four flights that day, each longer than the previous.

A small amount of the material that covered one of the wings of the Wright brothers’ aircraft, known as the Flyer, during the first flight is now aboard Ingenuity.

An insulative tape was used to wrap the small swatch of fabric around a cable located underneath the helicopter’s solar panel. The Wrights used the same type of material – an unbleached muslin called “Pride of the West” – to cover their glider and aircraft wings beginning in 1901.

The Apollo 11 crew flew a different piece of the material, along with a small splinter of wood from the Wright Flyer, to the Moon and back during their iconic mission in July 1969.

More about Ingenuity

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the technology demonstration for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA’s Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance.

At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. At JPL, MiMi Aung is the project manager and J. (Bob) Balaram is chief engineer.

Bring the excitement of Ingenuity into classrooms and homes through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement toolkit. Educators, students, and families can follow along the mission by building a paper helicopter or coding an Ingenuity video game.

For more information about Ingenuity visit https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter.

More about Perseverance

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance visit www.nasa.gov/perseverance and www.mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Dr. Giovanni Annous, superintendent of Upper Lake Unified School District, was recently honored as the “Superintendent of the Year” for the Association of California School Administrators Region 4.

The Association of California School Administrators, or ACSA, Region 4 represents school administrators from Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa, Solano and Marin counties. There are nearly 100 public school districts in the region, educating more than 200,000 students.

“It was a sobering moment when I learned I received the honor of being named Region 4 Superintendent of the Year,” said Annous. “It is a great honor to be placed in such distinguished ranks as those of the past honorees.”

Tenderly Logan, director of Pupil Personnel Services at Upper Lake Unified School District, or ULUSD, submitted the nomination on behalf of the administrative team and governing board members.

“Students first! This is the philosophy that Dr. Annous lives and breathes,” said Logan. “Everything he does in the district and community is all about engaging and uplifting the lives of students.”

Annous has achieved much for ULUSD in his four-year tenure, including facility upgrades, improving school climate, and opening a Wellness Center for ULUSD families.

The Wellness Center provides food, clothes, shower facilities, laundry facilities and a wellness check room. It has become a haven for many ULUSD families, particularly those who need additional support so their children can attend school with clean clothes, clean bodies and a full stomach.

The facility projects include the construction of shade structures, expansion of the solar panel field, and planning of the construction of new facilities at the elementary and high schools.

The increase in positive school climate at ULUSD can be attributed to Annous’s consistent collaboration with his students, teachers, families and the community at large.

“The relationships he cultivates are professional and productive,” said ULUSD Board of Trustees member Diane Plante.

But it is the pandemic that has highlighted Annous’ strength in leadership.

“If I had to choose one significant contribution to education this year, it was making the decision to keep Upper Lake Unified School District open to in-person instruction,” said Annous.

Upper Lake Unified School District successfully opened to hybrid instruction which included in-person and distance learning in August 2020. It remains open utilizing the hybrid model to this day.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the district spent $300,000 upgrading their technology. Each ULUSD student received a computer and students were given internet connectivity based on need to give them the tools to successfully take part in distance learning. Food delivery for ULUSD students continued from the beginning of the shut down through December. The constant search for personal protective equipment began.

“Dr. Annous doesn’t just sit back with his teams and plan, he gets in and gets his hands dirty,” his administrative team wrote in his nomination letter.

This was more than evident this past summer. Annous drove hundreds of miles to pick up scarce building materials. He then spent weekends and evenings building plexiglass separators for all his teachers, students and staff.

“The district became a poster child for how schools should successfully operate in a pandemic and achieve their goals of teaching the students,” Annous said.

Annous regularly shares the credit for the success of ULUSD.

“This decision [to open] was not mine alone,” Annous said. “I commend and praise our leadership team, our amazing staff, and our ULUSD parents for their commitment to our students and the community.”

The ULUSD staff returned the appreciation for their Superintendent in the nomination letter.

“Dr. Annous is the epitome of a supportive, loving, giving, intelligent, visionary leader,” said the ULUSD Administrative Team. “There are only better things on the horizon with Dr. Annous at the helm.”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake Area Planning Council is currently in the process of updating both the Regional Transportation Plan and the Active Transportation Plan for the Lake County Region and is seeking input from the community.

The purpose of the plans is to identify transportation needs and priority projects over the next 20 years for all modes of transportation including streets, highways, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and transit.

What are the greatest needs for the region’s transportation system? What improvements will help community members get to where they need to be? What barriers need to be addressed?

The public’s input is important to the update process. Due to ongoing COVID-19 related restrictions, public meetings will be replaced with online forums.

An interactive website has been developed through Lake APC seeking input from interested community members to express ideas and concerns regarding transportation in the region.

Visit the 2022 Regional Transportation Plan website here.

The site includes:

• Interactive ("pinnable") maps where users can provide location-based feedback;
• Interactive budget exercises to help prioritize funding expenditures;
• Opinion surveys.

Additional input, as well as further questions or comments are welcome.

Contact John Speka at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-263-7799, or by mail to Lake APC 525 South Main St., Suite B, Ukiah, CA 95482.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With vaccine eligibility expanding statewide, local health officials are encouraging people to sign up to be ready for open appointments.

Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said more than 33 percent of Lake County residents age 16 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

“We need your help to significantly increase that number, so we can all safely resume in-person activities that make life deeply enjoyable,” Pace said.

Vaccine eligibility expanded to include all Californians age 50 and older this week. People 16 and older will qualify on April 15.

If you are a Lake County resident age 16 to 49 and want to be vaccinated as soon as possible, Pace asks that you complete this interest form. If there are open appointments prior to April 15, Public Health will contact you to schedule.

Next week’s appointments are now available at https://MyTurn.ca.gov.

People unable to schedule online can call the CA COVID-19 Hotline, 833-422-4255; help is available in Spanish and English.

Lake County Office of Education is also providing Spanish language assistance Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 707-262-4162, 707-262-4153 or 707-262-4159.

Over the last few weeks, many vaccination appointments have gone unfilled, Pace said.

“Rest assured, no vaccine is wasted; unused doses are saved for future clinic dates or distributed to community partners. However, we want to fill up all available appointments, so more people are protected,” Pace said.

Why aren’t more people signing up to be vaccinated?

Pace said the state’s eligibility criteria may still be too strict; some who are eager to get the vaccine haven’t had the chance.

Online scheduling platforms are a barrier for some. Helpful tips and phone numbers to call for support are posted here.

Pace said approved COVID-19 vaccines are very safe and highly effective.

He said it is very clear the safety profile of the current vaccines approved for use in the US – Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson and Johnson – is very good.

“Severe reactions and side effects are extremely rare,” he said. “We serve 500 to 1,000 people per day, and no serious reactions have occurred at our clinics.”

All three vaccines have also proven highly effective in protecting people from serious illness and death, Pace said. “COVID-19 is prevalent in our communities, and variants bring additional concerns for those that are not vaccinated. Please don’t wait!”

If people are tired of business restrictions and spending so much time at home, he urges them to be vaccinated.

“The more people get vaccinated, the sooner we get back to normal,” he said. “We will likely see a pattern in coming months where unvaccinated people are getting sick and testing positive, while vaccinated people are not. Some activities and events will likely require proof of vaccination to participate. Those who have gotten the shot will also worry less about getting and spreading the virus to coworkers, family and friends.”

Where can I get vaccinated in Lake County?

Health Services Department drive-thru clinics are available. Schedule first and second dose appointments at https://MyTurn.ca.gov – please remember to bring the card received at your first dose appointment to your second dose appointment. Clinics take place as follows:

· Lakeport: Mondays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lakeport Auto Movies, 52 Soda Bay Road.
· Clearlake: Tuesdays to Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Redbud Park, 14655 Lakeshore Drive.

Adventist and Sutter are hosting vaccine clinics for all eligible community members (not just their registered patients):

For information, call Adventist Health at 707-995-4500 or contact Sutter Health at 844-987-6115, or https://www.sutterhealth.org/for-patients/health-alerts/covid-19-vaccine.

Safeway in Lakeport has a limited supply of vaccine as well. Their webpage has not been updated to list all current eligibility criteria, but you can self-attest you are eligible, and bring proof of eligibility to your appointment; people not qualified will be denied vaccine.

North Lake Pharmacy is also doing some vaccination; contact the pharmacy at 707-263-1328 or 707-263-6192.

Lake County Tribal Health Consortium patients can visit http://www.lcthc.com/ or call 707-263-8382.

Do you have concerns about the vaccine or obstacles to getting one? If so, Pace asks that you let Public Health know.

“It will help us understand how we can expand protection throughout our community,” he said.

Write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 707-263-8174 with any feedback that can help increase vaccine access in Lake County.



Actualización de COVID-19: La elegibilidad para vacunas se está expandiendo rápidamente

Los residentes del condado de Lake de 16 a 49 años pueden completar nuestro formulario de interés ahora

Condado de Lake, CA (2 de abril de 2021) - Más del 33% de los residentes del condado de Lake mayores de 16 años han recibido al menos una dosis de la vacuna COVID-19. Necesitamos su ayuda para aumentar significativamente ese número, para que todos podamos reanudar de manera segura las actividades en persona que hacen que la vida sea profundamente agradable.

La elegibilidad para la vacuna se amplió para incluir a todos los californianos mayores de 50 años esta semana. Las personas mayores de 16 años calificarán el 15 de abril.

Si es residente del condado de Lake y tiene entre 16 y 49 años y desea vacunarse lo antes posible, complete nuestro Formulario de interés. Si hay citas abiertas antes del 15 de abril, lo llamaremos para programar:

http://health.co.lake.ca.us/Coronavirus/Vaccines/Vaccination_Request_Form.htm .

Las citas de la próxima semana ya están disponibles en https://MyTurn.ca.gov. Las personas que no puedan programar en línea pueden llamar a la línea directa de CA COVID-19, 833-422-4255; La ayuda está disponible en español e inglés. La Oficina de Educación del Condado de Lake también brinda asistencia en español de lunes a viernes, de 9 am a 5 pm. Llame al 707-262-4162, 707-262-4153 o 707-262-4159.

Durante las últimas semanas, muchas citas de vacunación no se han cumplido. Tenga la seguridad de que no se desperdicia ninguna vacuna; Las dosis no utilizadas se guardan para futuras citas clínicas o se distribuyen a los socios de la comunidad. Sin embargo, queremos llenar TODAS las citas disponibles, para que más personas estén protegidas.

¿Por qué no hay más personas que se inscriban para ser vacunados?

Los criterios de elegibilidad del Estado pueden seguir siendo demasiado estrictos; algunos que están ansiosos por recibir la vacuna no han tenido la oportunidad.

Las plataformas de programación en línea son una barrera para algunos. Los consejos útiles y los números de teléfono a los que llamar para solicitar asistencia se encuentran publicados en:

http://health.co.lake.ca.us/Coronavirus/Vaccines.htm .

Las vacunas COVID-19 aprobadas son muy seguras y altamente efectivas

Está muy claro que el perfil de seguridad de las vacunas actuales aprobadas para su uso en los EE. UU. (Moderna, Pfizer y Johnson y Johnson) es muy bueno. Las reacciones graves y los efectos secundarios son extremadamente raros; atendemos a 500-1.000 personas por día y no se han producido reacciones graves en nuestras clínicas.

Las tres vacunas también han demostrado ser muy eficaces para proteger a las personas de enfermedades graves y la muerte. COVID-19 prevalece en nuestras comunidades y las variantes generan preocupaciones adicionales para aquellos que no están vacunados. ¡No espere!

¿Estás cansado de las restricciones comerciales y de pasar tanto tiempo en casa? ¡Vacúnate!

Cuantas más personas se vacunen, antes volveremos a la normalidad. Es probable que veamos un patrón en los próximos meses en el que las personas no vacunadas se enfermen y den positivo, mientras que las personas vacunadas no. Es probable que algunas actividades y eventos requieran prueba de vacunación para participar. Aquellos que hayan recibido la vacuna también se preocuparán menos por contraer y transmitir el virus a compañeros de trabajo, familiares y amigos.

¿Dónde puedo vacunarme en el condado de Lake?

Clínicas de Auto-servicio del Departamento de Servicios de Salud (programe citas para la primera y la segunda dosis en https://MyTurn.ca.gov ; recuerde llevar la tarjeta que recibió en su cita de la primera dosis a la cita de la segunda dosis):

· Lakeport: lunes, de 10 a. M. A 4 p. M., Películas de Lakeport Auto (52 Soda Bay Road

· Clearlake: martes a jueves, de 10 a. M. A 4 p. M., Redbud Park (14655 Lakeshore Dr.)

Adventist y Sutter están organizando clínicas de vacunas para todos los miembros de la comunidad elegibles (no solo sus pacientes registrados):

· Adventist Health - 707-995-4500

· Sutter Health - 844-987-6115, o https://www.sutterhealth.org/for-patients/health-alerts/covid-19-vaccine

Safeway en Lakeport también tiene un suministro limitado de vacunas (su página web no se ha actualizado para enumerar todos los criterios de elegibilidad actuales, pero puede auto-dar fe de que es elegible y traer prueba de elegibilidad a su cita; las personas no calificadas serán vacuna negada):

https://mhealthcheckin.com/covidvaccine?clientId=1611269027315&region=NorCal_-_2&urlId=%2Fvcl%2F0983lakecounty

North Lake Pharmacy (707-263-1328 o 707-263-6192) también está vacunando.

Los pacientes del Consorcio de Salud Tribal del Condado de Lake pueden visitar http://www.lcthc.com/ o llamar al 707-263-8382.

¿Tiene inquietudes sobre la vacuna u obstáculos para obtener una?

¡Por favor déjanos saber! Nos ayudará a comprender cómo podemos expandir la protección en toda nuestra comunidad.

Escriba a This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. o llame al 707-263-8174 con cualquier comentario que pueda ayudar a aumentar el acceso a las vacunas en el condado de Lake.

On Friday, Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chairman Mike Thompson (CA-05) and Vice Chairs Joe Neguse (CO-02), Val B. Demings (FL-10), and Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) led a letter signed by 101 of their colleagues asking President Biden to take executive action to regulate concealable assault-style rifles, like the firearm used in the recent tragedy in Boulder, Colorado.

Members cited the ability of the administration to regulate such firearms under the National Firearms Act.

The letter follows.

Dear President Biden,

The House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force calls on you to take strong executive action to address serious inequities in the implementation of the National Firearms Act which is the federal law regulating the manufacture, transfer, and possession of certain classes of firearms. For too long, gun manufacturers in order to circumvent the National Firearms Act have designed and marketed concealable AR-15 style firearms which fire rifle rounds.

Concealable assault-style firearms that fire rifle rounds pose an unreasonable threat to our communities and should be fully regulated under the National Firearms Act consistent with the intent and history of the law. The recent tragedy in Boulder, Colorado where 10 people including a police officer were killed is one in a string of deadly incidents involving this style of weapon. On February 6, 2019, Milwaukee Officer Matthew Rittner was killed by an AK-47 style concealable weapon while trying to execute a search warrant. Later that year on August 4, 2019, a concealable .223 caliber AR-15 style firearm was used to kill 9 people and injure 17 others in Dayton, Ohio in less than 1 minute.

The National Firearms Act has proven to be extremely effective in preventing crimes with the classes of particularly dangerous firearms it regulates through a system requiring a background check, submission of photo identification and fingerprints, and registration of the firearm with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The 1934 law sought to regulate certain weapons because of their frequent use in crime. Some of the features exploited by criminals and included for enhanced regulation under the NFA include, sawed off shotguns, rifles with short barrels and weapons with a high capacity of firing like machine guns.

The concealability and ability to use ammunition capable of penetrating body armor make these firearms especially dangerous on our streets and for law enforcement personnel. We thank you for your commitment to preventing gun violence and urge you to immediately promulgate regulations to cover these concealable assault firearms under the National Firearms Act.

Sea ice in the Arctic appears to have hit its annual maximum extent after growing through the fall and winter.

The 2021 wintertime extent reached on March 21 ties with 2007’s as the seventh-smallest extent of winter sea ice in the satellite record, according to scientists at the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center and NASA.

This year’s maximum extent peaked at 5.70 million square miles and is 340,000 square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average maximum – equivalent to missing an area of ice larger than the state of Texas and Florida combined.

This image above, created at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was created using data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, acquired by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 instrument aboard the Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water “SHIZUKU” satellite.

Roberto Molar Candanosa works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.