The Great Lakes From Space: Near Record Ice Cover

PHOTOGRAPH BY NOAA

Ice covers about 85.2 percent of the Great Lakes this winter, close to the record 94.7 percent coverage mark set in 1979. A geostationary satelliteparked over the eastern U.S., and run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, took this image on February 19.

Last year's ice coverage on the Great Lakes topped out at 38.4 percent. (See "Down the Drain: The Incredible Shrinking Great Lakes.")