Sensing the Poles’ Hidden Heat

New animations from NASA’s PREFIRE mission reveal two years of seasonal temperature swings at the Arctic and Antarctic.

1. Science
2. Earth Observatory
3. Sensing the Poles’ Hidden Heat

• Earth
• Earth Observatory
• Image of the Day
• EO Explorer
• Topics
  • All Topics
  • Atmosphere
  • Land
  • Heat & Radiation
  • Life on Earth
  • Human Dimensions
  • Natural Events
  • Oceans
  • Remote Sensing Technology
  • Snow & Ice
  • Water
• More Content
  • Collections
  • Global Maps
  • World of Change
  • Articles
  • Earth Matters Blog
  • Blue Marble: Next Generation
  • EO Kids
  • Mission: Biomes
• About
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • 🛜 RSS
  • Contact Us
• Search

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
supports HTML5 video

At the top and bottom of the planet, the seasons arrive on a schedule all their own. Satellite data from a mission measuring infrared energy reveal just how differently—and how dramatically—surface temperatures swing across two full years at the poles.

In this animation, surface temperatures across the Arctic and Antarctic pulse between cold (dark blue) and milder to warm (lighter blue to red). Data for the animation come from NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) satellites. The mission’s twin CubeSats began collecting science data in July 2024 and have now captured two complete seasonal cycles at each pole.

Because the two poles sit in opposite hemispheres, their seasons occur at opposite times—and the swing between seasons differs, too. In the Arctic, cold, dark winters give way to summers warm enough to thaw vast stretches of tundra and sea ice. In Antarctica, Earth’s coldest continent, summer temperatures rarely climb above freezing before the bitter cold of winter returns.

Surface temperatures, and how they fluctuate, offer a window into Earth’s energy budget, the net flow of energy into and out of the Earth system. Sunlight absorbed by the surface is re-radiated as infrared heat, which bounces between Earth’s surface and atmosphere before escaping to space. The poles play an important role in this process. Atmospheric and ocean circulation carries excess heat absorbed in the tropics toward the poles, where it radiates away to space, helping regulate the planet’s temperature.

“By measuring invisible heat radiating from Earth’s coldest places, PREFIRE is helping scientists understand why the poles are changing so rapidly, and what those changes might mean for the rest of the planet,” said Chad Greene, a glaciologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Scientists have long known that far-infrared radiation accounts for nearly 60 percent of the energy Earth loses to space, but that portion of the spectrum—invisible to human eyes—had never been comprehensively measured on a global scale. By directly tracking this invisible energy in near-real-time, the PREFIRE mission is helping scientists refine models and gain a better understanding of the Earth system.

“Weather systems, river flows, shipping routes, and ice sheet stability are all influenced by energy movement in a part of the spectrum that only PREFIRE can see,” said Tristan L’Ecuyer, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and principal investigator of the PREFIRE mission. “Now that the invisible has been made visible, we can begin to improve weather and climate predictions that industries, our national defense, and Arctic communities rely on.”

Maps courtesy of Chad Greene, NASA/JPL, using data from NASA’s PREFIRE mission. Story by Kathryn Hansen.

• NASA Earthdata, PREFIRE. Accessed August 5, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2009) Climate and Earth’s Energy Budget. Accessed August 5, 2026.
• NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2025, August 15) NASA’s PREFIRE CubeSat Mission Extended. Accessed August 5, 2026.
• L’Ecuyer, T.S., et al. (2021) The Polar Radiant Energy in the Far Infrared Experiment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 102(7).

Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.

An astronaut’s photo, taken en route to the Moon, reveals our planet and its place in space in a novel…

The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission captured extraordinary images of our home planet during their journey around the far…

Your challenge is to tell us the location of the satellite image and why it is interesting.

Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters

Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox.

Earth Observatory Image of the Day

NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery.

Explore Earth Science

Earth Science Data

Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data

Stats

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.