Great Lakes 88 Percent Frozen Over After Record 9.5 Low In 2002 (SLIDESHOW)

The Great Lakes' ice cover has reached 88 percent for the first time since 1994.

In 2002 the ice coverage reached a record low when only 9.5 percent of the lakes' surfaces froze, a NASA Earth Observatory news release reported. In the past four decades the ice cover has risen above 80 percent only five times.

"Persistently low temperatures across the Great Lakes region are responsible for the increased areal coverage of the ice," Nathan Kurtz, cryospheric scientist NASA's Goddard Space Flight Cente, said in the news release. "Low temperatures are the dominant mechanism for thickening the ice, but secondary factors like clouds, snow, and wind also play a role."

"We had an early ice season this year, owing to cold temperatures in the fall and early winter," George Leshkevich of NOAA's Great Lakes lab, said in the news release. "Ice was reported on bays and harbors of the Great Lakes as early as the end of November, as opposed to the normal timing of mid-December."

The first image shows when the great lakes were 80.3 percent frozen over on February 19, 2014. The second image is in false color and was captured using a combination of "shortwave infrared, near infrared, and red" the news release reported.

The technique allows researchers to more easily differentiate between ice water and clouds.

"Ice is pale blue (thicker ice is brighter), open water is navy, snow is blue-green, and clouds are white or blue-green (depending on temperature and composition)," the news release reported.

The third image is in natural color and shows the thickness of the ice cover on Lake Erie along with shipping lanes that were carved out by ice breakers.

The ice cover on the lakes can change weather patterns in a phenomenon called the "lake effect." It also reduces evaporation during the winter.  

"[This is] good news for local water supplies, as well as for shipping and recreational use," Walt Meier, a cryospheric scientist at NASA Goddard said in the news release.