The blizzard died down, leaving the mountains as randomly covered with snow as if a blind woman had thrown a sheet over them, the upper branches of the forest pines limed, creaking, swollen with the fall.

NEWYORKER: Once Upon a Time

Without the flight measurements, "we would be blind" to changes in the ice sheet, said the mission leader, Seelye Martin of the University of Washington in Seattle.

CNN: NASA flights will study Antarctic ice changes