Earth ID: 4138

Cover Candidate for PNAS:
Albedo Decrease Linked to Arctic Sea Ice

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on March 11, 2014

These still images were generated to be cover candidates for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The images display data from the paper "Observational determination of albedo decrease caused by vanishing Arctic sea ice". Average September Arctic sea ice from 1979 is shown on the top globe of each image. Average September Arctic sea ice from 2012 with change in albedo overlaid is shown in the bottom globe of each image. Two images are provided which use different color tables.

This is the first study to document Arctic-wide decrease in planetary albedo using satellite radiation budget measurements and sea ice data. The study finds a very strong correlation between sea ice cover and planetary albedo.

Here are links to the related NASA press release and the article.

Print resolution still: top globe shows 1979 September sea ice cover; bottom globe shows 2012 September sea ice cover with albedo change overlaid using a red color bar. Versions are provided with and without labels.

Red color bar: dark red indicates darker areas (i.e., more absorbent to radiation than in previous years) , lighter reds, orange and into blue indicate no change (i.e., similar to previous years).

Print resolution still: top globe shows 1979 September sea ice cover; bottom globe shows 2012 September sea ice cover with albedo change overlaid using a blue color bar. Versions are provided with and without labels.

Blue color bar: dark blue indicates darker areas (i.e., more absorbent to radiation than in previous years) , lighter blues and into white indicate no change (i.e., similar to previous years).

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Kristina Pistone (Scripps Insitution of Oceanography, UCSD): Scientist
Ian Eisenman (Scripps Institution for Oceanography, UCSD): Scientist
Veerabhadran Ramanathan (Scripps Institution of Oceanography): Scientist
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.

Science Paper:
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/9/3322.abstract

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4138

Mission:
Terra

Data Used:

Aqua/CERES/Albedo

01/2000 through 09/2012

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Terra and Aqua/MODIS/Blue Marble: Next Generation also referred to as: BMNG

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/

Credit:
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

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NIMBUS-7/SMMR/Sea Ice Concentration also referred to as: SMMR

Observed Data - NSIDC - 09/1979 through 07/1987

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DMSP/SSM/I/Sea Ice Concentration also referred to as: NSIDC SSMI

Observed Data - NSIDC - 08/1987 through 09/2012

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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 >> Atmospheric science
DLESE >> Cryology
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Radiation >> Albedo
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Albedo
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