NASA has released stunning photos of the Antarctic ice caps after its most recent expeditions last year.

However, Antarctica had a record-low sea ice coverage of 6.61 million square kilometres in 2017, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its latest report.

Snow and ice on the Creswick Peaks. The light blue areas on the cliff face indicate melting. Credit:NASA / Earth Observatory

In November last year, NASA conducted two missions as part of its Operation IceBridge, which is in its ninth year of flights to map the snow and ice of Antarctica.

On November 4, the IceBridge team flew its "Endurance West" mission, which specifically targets sea ice,