Earth ID: 4520

Early 2016 Winter Storm Melts Arctic Sea Ice

Visualizations by Alex Kekesi Released on November 10, 2016

Arctic sea ice grows during the winter months, reaching its largest extent sometime in March. When something disrupts the cold, dry, winter Arctic atmosphere, sea ice can feel the effects, and these impacts may linger through the season. At the end of December 2015, a low pressure system formed in the north Atlantic and swept into the central Arctic, disrupting sea ice formation. As a result of this weather event, the concentration of sea ice in this region decreased by around ten percent. Sea ice extent stayed low throughout the month of January and large parts of the region remained unseasonably ice-free, which probably helped contribute to a record low Arctic sea ice maximum.

Sea ice concentration difference colorbar from December 28, 2015 to January 6, 2016. Deepening blue indicates more sea ice concentration. Deepening red indicates less sea ice concentration.

Print resolution still showing the difference in sea ice concentration from December 28, 2015 to January 6, 2016.

Print resolution still showing both the sea ice concentration difference along with air temperature and wind data.

Used Elsewhere In

Visualization Credits

Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Visualizer
Linette Boisvert: Lead Scientist
Alek A. Petty (University of Maryland): Lead Scientist
Kayvon Sharghi (USRA): Lead Producer
Kathryn Mersmann (USRA): Lead Producer
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Science Paper:
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/MWR-D-16-0234.1

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4520

Data Used: