Earth  ID: 3466

2007 Arctic Sea Ice from AMSR-E with Greenland in Foreground

Visualizations by Cindy Starr Released on October 2, 2007
There is a newer version of this story located here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4684
Sea ice is frozen seawater floating on the surface of the ocean. Some sea ice is semi-permanent, persisting from year to year, and some is seasonal, melting and refreezing from season to season. The sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent at the end of each summer and the remaining ice is called the perennial ice cover. The 2007 Arctic summer sea ice has reached the lowest extent of perennial ice cover on record - nearly 25% less than the previous low set in 2005. The area of the perennial ice has been steadily decreasing since the satellite record began in 1979, at a rate of about 10% per decade. But the 2007 minimum, reached on September 14, is far below the previous record made in 2005 and is about 38% lower than the climatological average. Such a dramatic loss has implications for ecology, climate and industry.

The AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite acquires high resolution measurements of the 89 GHz brightness temperature near the poles. Because this is a passive microwave sensor which is not so sensitive to atmospheric effects, this sensor is able to observe the entire polar region every day, even through clouds and snowfall. This animation progresses at a rate of six frames per day from January 1, 2007 through the minimum extent which occurred on September 14, 2007. The false color of the sea ice, derived from the AMSR-E 6.25 km 89 GHz brightness temperature, highlights the fissures or divergence areas in the sea ice cover by warm brightness temperatures (in blue) while cold brightness temperatures, shown in brighter white, represent consolidated sea ice. The sea ice edge is defined by the 15% ice concentration contour in the three-day moving average of the AMSR-E 12.5 km sea ice concentration data while ice extent is the sum of all pixels with at least 15% ice.
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This animation progresses at a rate of six frames per day from January 1, 2007 through the minimum extent which occurred on September 14, 2007. The false color of the sea ice highlights the fissures in blue and consolidated sea ice in white.
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This image shows the record minimum sea ice which occurred on September 14, 2007.
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This image shows the previous record minimum sea ice which occurred on September 21, 2005.
 

Newer Versions

AMSR2 2018 Minimum Arctic Sea Ice Extent
AMSR2 2015 Minimum Arctic Sea Ice Extent

Visualization Credits

Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Visualizer
Josefino Comiso (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3466

Data Used:
Aqua/AMSR-E/Daily L3 6.25 km 89 GHz Brightness Temperature (Tb)
2007-01-01 through 2007-09-14
view all stories where this data set is used
Aqua/AMSR-E/Daily L3 12.5km Tb, Sea Ice Concentration, and Snow Depth also referred to as: Sea Ice Concentration
2007-01-01 through 2007-09-14
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Keywords:
DLESE >> Cryology
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Hydrosphere >> Snow/Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Sea Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Ice Extent
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Ice Floes
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Ice Growth/Melt
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Sea Ice Concentration
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Sea Ice Motion
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Ice Extent
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Ice Growth/Melt
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Ice Motion
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Hydrosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Ice Extent
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Hydrosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Ice Motion
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Hydrosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Snow/Ice Temperature
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Sea Ice >> Ice Extent
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Sea Ice >> Ice Floes
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Sea Ice >> Ice Growth/Melt
SVS >> iPod
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0