The eye of Hurricane Earl in the Atlantic Ocean is seen from NASA’s DC-8 research aircraft, Monday, Aug. 30, 2010. This flight through the eyewall caught Earl just as it was intensifying from a Category 2 to a Category 4 hurricane. The flights are part of the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment, a NASA Earth science field experiment being conducted to better understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes. (NASA/Jane Peterson)

Sea ice is seen out the window of NASA's DC-8 research aircraft as it flies 2,000 feet above the Bellingshausen Sea in West Antarctica on Wednesday, Oct., 21, 2009. This was the fourth science flight of NASA’s Operation Ice Bridge airborne Earth science mission to study Antarctic ice sheets, sea ice, and ice shelves. Photo Credit: (NASA/Jane Peterson)

An iceberg is seen out the window of NASA's DC-8 research aircraft as it flies 2,000 feet above the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica on Wednesday, Oct., 21, 2009. This was the fourth science flight of NASA’s Operation Ice Bridge airborne Earth science mission to study Antarctic ice sheets, sea ice, and ice shelves. Photo Credit: (NASA/Jane Peterson)