Sea Ice Surface Temperature with Alternate Color Scale (WMS)

This animation shows the daily sea ice surface temperature over the northern hemisphere from September 2002 through May 2003. The sea ice surface temperature was measured by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite. Since this instrument cannot take measurements through clouds, in cloud-covered regions or areas with suspect data quality, previous values are retained until valid data is obtained. The satellite instruments are also unable to collect data in the dark, so the data values in polar darkness are not updated during the winter until the sun moves northwards in the spring. The color of the sea ice depicts the sea ice surface temperature.