A Tour of the Cryosphere
- Visualizations by:
- Alex Kekesi and
- Cindy Starr
- View full credits
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The cryosphere consists of those parts of the Earth's surface where water is found in solid form, including areas of snow, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost, ice sheets, and icebergs. In these regions, surface temperatures remain below freezing for a portion of each year. Since ice and snow exist relatively close to their melting point, they frequently change from solid to liquid and back again due to fluctuations in surface temperature. Although direct measurements of the cryosphere can be difficult to obtain due to the remote locations of many of these areas, using satellite observations scientists monitor changes in the global and regional climate by observing how regions of the Earth's cryosphere shrink and expand.
This animation portrays fluctuations in the cryosphere through observations collected from a variety of satellite-based sensors. The animation begins in Antarctica, showing ice thickness ranging from 2.7 to 4.8 kilometers thick along with swaths of polar stratospheric clouds. In a tour of this frozen continent, the animation shows some unique features of the Antarctic landscape found nowhere else on earth. Ice shelves, ice streams, glaciers, and the formation of massive icebergs can be seen. A time series shows the movement of iceberg B15A, an iceberg 295 kilometers in length which broke off of the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000. Moving farther along the coastline, a time series of the Larsen ice shelf shows the collapse of over 3,200 square kilometers ice since January 2002. As we depart from the Antarctic, we see the seasonal change of sea ice and how it nearly doubles the size of the continent during the winter.
From Antarctica, the animation travels over South America showing areas of permafrost over this mostly tropical continent. We then move further north to observe daily changes in snow cover over the North American continent. The clouds show winter storms moving across the United States and Canada, leaving trails of snow cover behind. In a close-up view of the western US, we compare the difference in land cover between two years: 2003 when the region received a normal amount of snow and 2002 when little snow was accumulated. The difference in the surrounding vegetation due to the lack of spring melt water from the mountain snow pack is evident.
As the animation moves from the western US to the Arctic region, the areas effected by permafrost are visible. In December, we see how the incoming solar radiation primarily heats the Southern Hemisphere. As time marches forward from December to June, the daily snow and sea ice recede as the incoming solar radiation moves northward to warm the Northern Hemisphere.
Using satellite swaths that wrap the globe, the animation shows three types of instantaneous measurements of solar radiation observed on June 20, 2003: shortwave (reflected) radiation, longwave (thermal) radiation and net flux (showing areas of heating and cooling). Correlation between reflected radiation and clouds are evident. When the animation fades to show the monthly global average net flux, we see that the polar regions serve to cool the global climate by radiating solar energy back into space throughout the year.
The animation shows a one-year cycle of the monthly average Arctic sea ice concentration followed by the mean September minimum sea ice for each year from 1979 through 2004. A red outline indicates the mean sea ice extent for September over 22 years, from 1979 to 2002. The minimum Arctic sea ice animation clearly shows how over the last 5 years the quantity of polar ice has decreased by 10 - 14% from the 22 year average.
While moving from the Arctic to Greenland, the animation shows the constant motion of the Arctic polar ice using daily measures of sea ice activity. Sea ice flows from the Arctic into Baffin Bay as the seasonal ice expands southward. As we draw close to the Greenland coast, the animation shows the recent changes in the Jakobshavn glacier. Although Jakobshavn receded only slightly from 1042 to 2001, the animation shows significant recession over the past three years, from 2002 through 2004.
This animation shows a wealth of data collected from satellite observations of the cryosphere and the impact that recent cryospheric changes are making on our planet.
For more information on the data sets used in this visualization, visit NASA's EOS DAAC website.

This image shows a comparison of MODIS Landcover over Colorado in mid-May between 2003 (left) and 2002 (right). The winter of 2002-2003 had an average amount of snowfall in the region, while the snowfall in the winter of 2001-2002 was below-average. Purple regions, derived from SEDAC's GPW, indicate populated areas.

This image shows a satellite swath of instantaneous reflected solar radiation measured by CERES on 6/20/2003. Areas with clouds, snow and ice reflect more solar radiation back into space (shown in yellow and orange in this image). Darker regions, such as oceans, absorb much of the solar radiation (shown as dark brown in this image).

This image shows a satellite swath of instantaneous thermal radiation measured by CERES on 6/20/2003. Dark regions of the planet, particularly the ocean waters, absorb more of the Sun's heat and are warm (shown orange in this image). Light regions of the planet such as clouds reflect solar energy and remain cool (shown dark red in this image).
CERESCryologyCryosphereEarth ScienceFrozen GroundGlacier Motion/Ice Sheet MotionGlacier Topography/Ice Sheet TopographyGlaciersGlaciers/Ice SheetsGOESHDTVHydrosphereIce Growth/MeltIce MotionIce SheetsIce TemperatureIce VelocityNarratedPermafrostSea IceSea Ice ConcentrationSea ice MotionSea Ice Surface TemperatureSnow and IceSnow CoverSnow/IceSnow/ice TemperatureVoice Over Talent
Credits
Please give credit for this visualization to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Designed by
EOSDIS Outreach Team
ESDIS Science Operations Office
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Carol Boquist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Jennifer Farnham-Brennan, Global Science and Technology, Inc.
Dr. Brian Krupp, Global Science and Technology, Inc.
Directed and Edited by
Dr. Horace Mitchell, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
DVD Design by
Stuart A. Snodgrass, Global Science and Technology, Inc.
Written by
Jarrett Cohen, Global Science and Technology, Inc.
Michael Starobin, Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc.
Narrated by
Michael Starobin, Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc.
Audio Engineering by
Mike Velle, Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc.
Music by
Michael Starobin, Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc.
MODIS Snow and Ice data courtesy of
Dr. Dorothy Hall, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Dr. Vince Salomonson, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Dr. George Riggs, Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
Arctic Sea Ice data courtesy of the
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences
University of Colorado
ICESat GLAS data courtesy of
Dr. Christopher Shuman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Steve Palm, Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
MODIS Imagery courtesy of the
MODIS Land Rapid Response Project
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
and the
University of Maryland
Jacques Descloitres, Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
Jeffrey E. Schmaltz, Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
Blue Marble MODIS data composite courtesy of the
MODIS Science Team
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
and the
NASA Earth Observatory
Reto Stockli, Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
RADARSAT data courtesy of the
Canadian Space Agency
Jakobshavn Ice Velocity data courtesy of
Dr. Ian Joughin, University of Washington
QuikSCAT Seawinds data courtesy of the
BYU Center for Remote Sensing
Dr. David Long, Brigham Young University
Permafrost data courtesy of the
United States Geological Survey
and the
International Permafrost Association
City Lights data courtesy of the
Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
Topography data courtesy of the
United States Geological Survey
Cloud data courtesy of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Population data courtesy of the
Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
SeaWiFS data courtesy of the
SeaWiFS Project and GeoEye
NOTE: All SeaWiFS images and data presented on this web site are for research and educational use only. All commercial use of SeaWiFS data must be coordinated with GeoEye (NOTE: In January 2013, DigitalGlobe and GeoEye combined to become DigitalGlobe).
All other data courtesy of
NASA
NASA EOSDIS and other EOS data distributed by
NASA's Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs)
http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov
Visualizers
- Alex Kekesi (GST) [Lead]
- Cindy Starr (GST) [Lead]
- Eric Sokolowsky (GST)
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
- Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)
- Kevin Mahoney (CSC)
- Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC)
- Marte Newcombe (GST)
- Randall Jones (GST)
- Ryan Boller (NASA/GSFC)
- Stuart A. Snodgrass (KBRwyle)
- Tom Bridgman (GST)
Writers
- Jarrett Cohen (GST)
- Michael Starobin (KBRwyle)
Scientists
- Mary Jo Brodzik (University of Colorado)
- Richard Armstrong (University of Colorado)
- Ronald Weaver (University of Colorado)
- Waleed Abdalati (University of Colorado Boulder/CIRES)
- Walt Meier (NASA/GSFC)
Narrator
- Michael Starobin (KBRwyle)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
Landsat-7 (Collected with the ETM+ sensor)
Dataset can be found at: http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/wrs.html
See more visualizations using this data setNimbus-7 (Collected with the SMMR sensor)
QuikSCAT (Collected with the SeaWinds sensor)
SeaWinds is a scanning dual pencil-beam Ku-band scatterometer.
Dataset can be found at: http://www.mers.byu.edu/Seawinds.html
See more visualizations using this data setTerra (Collected with the ASTER sensor)
Dataset can be found at: http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov
See more visualizations using this data setTerra (Collected with the CERES sensor)
The CERES instrument aboard many Earth-orbiting satellites records the flow of reflected Solar radiation and reprocessed longwave radiation in the Earth's radiation budget.
See more visualizations using this data setDMSP (Collected with the OLS sensor)
Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System
See more visualizations using this data setNimbus-7 Passive Microwave Data (A.K.A. 15% Mean Sea Ice Extent Contour for September) (Collected with the SSMR sensor)
DMSP Passive Microwave Data (A.K.A. 15% Mean Sea Ice Extent Contour for September) (Collected with the SSM/I sensor)
Aqua Average Net Flux (Collected with the CERES sensor)
Terra and Aqua Blue Marble Land Cover (Collected with the MODIS sensor)
Credit: The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
See more visualizations using this data setCircum-Arctic Map of Permafrost and Ground-Ice Conditions
Aqua Sea Ice Concentration (A.K.A. Daily L3 12.5km Tb, Sea Ice Concentration, and Snow Depth) (Collected with the AMSR-E sensor)
Aqua Daily L3 6.25 km 89 GHz Brightness Temperature (Tb) (Collected with the AMSR-E sensor)
SRTM DEM (Collected with the SIR-C sensor)
RADARSAT-1 Derived Velocities (Collected with the SAR sensor)
Credit: Additional credit goes to Canadian Space Agency, RADARSAT International Inc.
See more visualizations using this data setGridded Population of the World (Version 3 Beta)
GTOPO30 Topography and Bathymetry
Infrared Global Geostationary Composite
Satellite Data Used to Produce WORLD-IR14KM Mosaic: GOES-11 - Southern hemisphere Band 4 10.7 um IR, Northern hemisphere Band 4 10.7 um IR; GOES-12 - Southern hemisphere Band 4 10.7 um IR, Northern hemisphere Band 4 10.7 um IR; Meteosat-7 - Band 8 11.5 um IR; Meteosat-9 - Band 9 10.8 um IR; MTSAT-1R - Band 2 10.8 um IR; NOAA-15 - Band 4 11 micron IR; NOAA-16 - Band 4 11 micron IR; NOAA-17 - Band 4 11 micron IR
Dataset can be found at: http://ghrc.msfc.nasa.gov/uso/ds_catalog/globalir.html
See more visualizations using this data setAqua Instantaneous Net Flux (Collected with the CERES sensor)
Aqua Instantaneous Outgoing Thermal (Collected with the CERES sensor)
Aqua Instantaneous Reflected Flux (Collected with the CERES sensor)
ICESat L2 Global Cloud Heights for Multi-layer Clouds (GLA09) (Collected with the GLAS sensor)
SeaStar ERS SAR-derived Glacial Floes (A.K.A. Land Reflectance) (Collected with the SeaWiFS sensor)
All SeaWiFS images and data presented on this web site are for research and educational use only. All commercial use of SeaWiFS data must be coordinated with GeoEye.
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, The SeaWiFS Project and GeoEye, Scientific Visualization Studio. NOTE: All SeaWiFS images and data presented on this web site are for research and educational use only. All commercial use of SeaWiFS data must be coordinated with GeoEye (NOTE: In January 2013, DigitalGlobe and GeoEye combined to become one DigitalGlobe.).
Dataset can be found at: http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/PRODUCTS/
See more visualizations using this data setDMSP Monthly Sea Ice Concentration Climatology (Collected with the SSM/I sensor)
Terra NDVI (Collected with the MODIS sensor)
Dataset can be found at: http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/data/modis/ndvi/
See more visualizations using this data setRAMP DEM (A.K.A. Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP) Digital Elevation Model (DEM))
Nimbus-7 Sea Ice Concentrations (Monthly Sea Ice Concentration Climatology from 1979-2002) (Collected with the SSMR sensor)
Aqua Sea Ice Extent and Ice Surface Temperature Daily L3 Global 4km EASE-Grid Day (MYD29E1D) (Collected with the MODIS sensor)
Dataset can be found at: http://nsidc.org/data/myd29e1d.html
See more visualizations using this data setDMSP September Mean Sea Ice Concentration (Collected with the SSM/I sensor)
Terra Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG (MOD10C1) (Collected with the MODIS sensor)
SORCE Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) data (Collected with the TIM sensor)
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.