NASA scientists and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) have determined that sea ice in the Arctic appears to have reached its lowest wintertime extent, calculated on March 7. This is the lowest in 38 years of satellite recording, and at a maximum record low for the third year in a row.

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(MORE: Switzerland's Strange Solution to Save a Melting Glacier)

NASA has been conducting Operation IceBridge since 2009 in order to collect data and monitor changes in polar ice. The yearly data collection uses airborne instruments to map Arctic and Antarctic regions. The flights take place over Arctic areas from March through May, and over Antarctica from October through November. 

(MORE: NASA Unveils New Archive of Agency's Most Stunning Images)

Photographer Mario Tama rode with NASA scientists over parts of Canada, Greenland and the Arctic Ocean in eight hour increments, creating the stunning images seen above. Canada's Ellesmere Island, which has retreating ice fields due to warming temperatures, is depicted, as well as Thule Aire Base in Pituffik, Greenland. Stark photos of Greenland's retreated ice sheet are followed by photos of fluffy snowshoe hares. Last year, Science News predicted that climate change could be deadly for the snowshoe hare. As ice and snow melts sooner in the year, the animals may not change coat color in time to be camouflaged with their surroundings. Snowshoe hares typically change between brown and white depending on the season.

Click through the above slideshow to see some of the locations of this year's Operation IceBridge study.

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