Slicing And Dicing

This animation of the winds over the Arctic plays twice as fast as the one below, showing 7.5 days every 5 seconds. This movie plays slower.the Arctic plays half as fast as the one above, showing 3.75 days every 5 seconds. A high resolution still image of the wind flow and sea ice on August 9, 2012. Colorbar for the wind velocity Early in the month of August, 2012, storms in the Arctic affected the motion of the sea ice north of Siberia and Alaska. This animation shows the motion of the winds over the Arctic in conjunction with seasonal melting of the Arctic sea ice from August 1 through September 13, 2012, when the NASA scientists determined that the sea ice reached its annual minimum extent. The surface winds, shown my moving arrows, are colored by the velocity. Slower winds are shown in blue, medium in green and the fast winds are shown in red.Note: Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, who calculate the sea ice minimum based on a 5-day trailing average, identified September 16 as the date when the lowest minimum extent occurred. NASA scientists who calculate area on each individual day identified September 13th as the date of the minimum sea ice, although there is little difference in size between the two days. Related pages