Transcripts of OIB_Arctic2011_45secVO_youtube_hq Ice near the poles is changing. In spring 2011, the maximum exent of Arctic sea ice was among the lowest in the satellite record. Using satellites to track Arctic ice and comparing it with previous years is one way that scientists gauge the Arctic's health, and the impacts of climate change. Now, NASA scientists are in the field for the most recent leg of Operation IceBridge, a six-year mission to study the Earth's polar regions, not from satellites, but from on board aircraft. Over the next eight weeks, researchers will fly over the Arctic aboard airborne science laboratories, tracking changes to ice cover and glaciers, and even performing some measurements not possible from space. For more information, go to www.nasa.gov/icebridge [beep beep, beep beep, beep beep]