A newer version of this visualization is available.
Multi-year Arctic Sea Ice
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- Visualizations by:
- Cindy Starr
- View full credits
The most visible change in the Arctic region in recent years has been the rapid decline of the perennial ice cover. The perennial ice is the portion of the sea ice floating on the surface of the ocean that survives the summer. This ice that spans multiple years represents the thickest component of the sea ice cover.
This visualization shows the perennial Arctic sea ice from 1980 to 2012. This is not the sea ice minimum, which occurs in September each year. This measures the perennial sea ice that survives the summer and thus exists for longer than a one-year time span. The measurement for this sea ice was taken during the months of November, December and January each year. The date assigned to the data point is the year of the last measurement (January). The grey disk at the North Pole indicates the region where no satellite data is collected. A graph overlay shows the area's size measured in million square kilometers for each year. The '1980','2008', and '2012' data points are highlighted on the graph.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
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Animators
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
- Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC)
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Visualizer
- Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.) [Lead]
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Writer
- Maria-Jose Vinas Garcia (Telophase)
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Video editor
- Stuart A. Snodgrass (KBRwyle)
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Scientist
- Josefino Comiso (NASA/GSFC)
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Producer
- Jefferson Beck (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Project support
- James W. Williams (GST)
Datasets used in this visualization
DMSP Comiso's Multi-year Sea Ice Concentration (Collected with the SSM/I 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.
Related pages
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ID: 10919 Produced Video
The Long Thaw
Read moreAs sea ice in the Arctic swells in winter and shrinks in summer, it gets pushed and pulled by winds, dynamic ocean currents and changing temperatures that continually morph its shape and size. But when scientists observe the Arctic on a longer time scale, the floating, frozen landscape in flux reveals a clear trend: The oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic is disappearing even faster than younger and thinner ice at the fringe of the polar ice cap. According to a new NASA study, the total area covered by hardened Arctic sea ice that has survived multiple summers is now declining at a rate of 17.2 percent per decade. What was once a sizable circular mass on top of the planet now looks more like a diminishing crescent, clinging to the coastline of Greenland and northern Canada. Watch the visualization below to witness how the Arctic's thickest sea ice has declined from 1980 to 2012. ||
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ID: 4251 Visualization
Multi-year Arctic Sea Ice 2014
Read moreMultiyear Arctic Ice || The most visible change in the Arctic region in recent years has been the rapid decline of the perennial ice cover. The perennial ice is the portion of the sea ice floating on the surface of the ocean that survives the summer. This ice that spans multiple years represents the thickest component of the sea ice cover.This visualization shows the perennial Arctic sea ice from 1979 to 2014. A graph overlay shows the area's size measured in million square kilometers for each year. ||
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