New images of the five Great Lakes have been released by NASA. The images depict that all the five lakes are covered with ice. As per to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), the images show an astonishing extent of the ice cover as observed from space.

The images have been captured by NASA on February 19, 2014. Nearly 88% of lakes were covered with ice earlier this month and this is for the first time since 1994 that lakes are ice covered to such an extent.

NASA's Earth Observatory said that ice cover is typically at its peak and average ice cover usually over 50% and is near 80% occasionally.

The images depict that the Great Lakes in false-color, merging shortwave infrared, near infrared and red that helps distinguishing ice from snow, water and clouds. Ice is pale blue, open water is navy, snow is blue-green and clouds are white or blue-green.

This year's thick layer of ice is because of cold temperatures that have persisted in the region. Scientist Nathan Kurtz, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said to the Earth Observatory that 'secondary factors like clouds, snow and wind also play a role'.

Ice cover over Lake Erie, Lake Superior and Lake Huron is approaching 100%, Lake Michigan is about 60% covered with ice and Lake Ontario is 20% covered.

The ice might be responsible for causing serious damage to the environment in the nearby regions.

Guy Meadows, director of Michigan Technological University's Great Lakes Research Center said, "The biggest impact we'll see is shutting down the lake-effect snow".