Seasonal Antarctic Sea Ice

Above is an image of the Antarctic sea ice on October 6, 2015, the day on which it reached its annual maximum extent. The date is also displayed. This visualization shows the growth of the Antarctic sea ice beginning on the day of its annual minimum extent, February 20, 2015, and running through the date of its annual maximum extent, October 6, 2015. Above is an image of the Antarctic sea ice on October 6, 2015, the day on which it reached its maximum annual extent. Above is an image of the Antarctic sea ice on October 6, 2015, the day on which it reached its maximum annual extent. The red line indicates the average annual maximum extent from 1981 through 2010. The date is also shown. Above is an image of the Antarctic sea ice on October 6, 2015, the day on which it reached its maximum annual extent. The red line indicates the average maximum extent line from 1981 through 2010. The Antarctic sea ice reached its annual maximum extent on October 6, 2015. The images shown here portray the sea ice as it was observed by the AMSR2 instrument onboard the Japanese Suzaku satellite. The opacity of the sea ice is derived from the AMSR2 sea ice concentration. The blueish white color of the sea ice is derived from the AMSR2 89 GHz brightness temperature. In some of the images, a thin red line demarks the average maximum sea ice extent from 1981 through 2010. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica is shown over the continent. Related pages

An animation of the Antarctic sea ice between March 21 and September 19, 2014 when the sea ice reached its maximum extent. The red extent line shows the average of the annual maximum extents from 1979 through 2014. This animation displays the daily dates. An animation of the Antarctic sea ice between March 21 and September 19, 2014 when the sea ice reached its maximum extent. The red extent line shows the average of the annual maximum extents from 1979 through 2014. No dates are displayed on this version. A print resolution image of the Antarctic sea ice on Setptember 19, 2014, the date on which the sea ice reached its maximum extent. The red line indicates the average of the annual maximum extents from 1979 through 2014. A print resolution image of the Antarctic sea ice on Setptember 19, 2014, the date on which the sea ice reached its maximum extent. A print resolution image with transparency showing the line denoting the average of the maximum sea ice extents from 1979 through 2014. In this animation we see the Antarctic sea ice expansion from March, 21, 2014 through September 19, 2014, the date on which the sea ice reached its maximum annual extent. Over the water, the opacity of the sea ice is determined by a running 3-day maximum of the AMSR2 sea ice concentration. The blueish white color of the sea ice is a false color derived from a 3-day running minimum of the AMSR2 89 GHz brightness temperature. Over the Antarctic continent, the LIMA data shown here uses the pan-chromatic band and has a resolution of 240 meters per pixel. Related pages

This animation shows the sea ice around Antarctica with a star background. This layer shows the forground animation of the Earth with the Antarctic sea ice with transparency. This layer includes the star background with transparency. 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.In this animation, the Antarctic sea ice progresses through time from May 26, 2009 through July 31, 2010. Over the water, Arctic sea ice changes from day to day showing a running 3-day average sea ice concentration in the region where the concentration is greater than 15%. The blueish white color of the sea ice is derived from a 3-day running minimum of the AMSR-E 89 GHz brightness temperature. Over the Antarctic continent, the LIMA data shown here uses the pan-chromatic band and has a resolution of 240 meters per pixel. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) is a data product funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and jointly produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Related pages

Explore how sea ice forms in the Antarctic. Watch Antarctica's sea ice grow in the winter and melt in the summer. NASA scientist Sinead Farrell describes the different types of sea ice that form in the Antarctic. Sea ice floes move together, drifting between cracks in the ice where ocean water is exposed. Up to three feet of snow will fall and accumulate on Antarctica's sea ice each year. Related pages

Animation of sea ice motion around Antarctica during 2005 with a date overlay. Animation of sea ice motion around Antarctica during 2005. Sea ice surrounding Antarctica on July 14, 2005. Sea ice surrounding Antarctica on August 14, 2005. Sea ice surrounding Antarctica on September 21, 2005. Antarctica is a land mass surrounded by an ocean which allows the sea ice here to move more freely than it does in the Northern Hemisphere. Because there are no surrounding continents to limit its movement, the sea ice is free to float northward into warmer waters where it eventually melts. As a result, almost all of the sea ice that forms during the Antarctic winter melts during the summer. During the winter, up to 18 million square kilometers (6.9 million square miles) of ocean is covered by sea ice, but by the end of summer, only about 3 million square kilometers (1.1 million square miles) of sea ice remain. Both Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent are characterized by fairly large variations from year to year. The monthly average extent can vary by as much as 1 million square kilometers (386,102 square miles) from the year-to-year monthly average. The area covered by Antarctic sea ice has shown a small increasing trend.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. The false color in this animation of sea ice surrounding the South Pole is derived from the daily AMSR-E 6.25 km 89 GHz brightness temperature while the sea ice extent is derived from the daily AMSR-E 12.5 km sea ice concentration. The sea ice extent shown is generated using a three day moving average where the daily sea ice concentration is at least 15%. This animation progresses at a rate of four frames per day from June 4, 2005 through November 18, 2005. Related pages