Arctic Sea Ice from January 1, 2013 to September 10, 2016

  • Released Sunday, January 22nd, 2017
  • Updated Tuesday, November 14th, 2023 at 12:08AM
  • ID: 4535

A visualization of the Arctic sea ice from January 1, 2013 through September 10, 2016, the date when the sea ice reached its annual minumum extent. The date is shown in the lower left corner.
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Satellite-based passive microwave images of the sea ice have provided a reliable tool for continuously monitoring changes in the Arctic ice since 1979. Every summer the Arctic ice cap melts down to what scientists call its "minimum" before colder weather begins to cause ice cover to increase. The first six months of 2016 have been the warmest first half of any year in our recorded history of surface temperature (which go back to 1880). Data shows that the Arctic temperature increases are much bigger, relatively, than the rest of the globe.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) provides many water-related products derived from data acquired by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) instrument aboard the Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water "SHIZUKU" (GCOM-W1) satellite. Two JAXA datasets used in this visualization are the 10-km daily sea ice concentration and the 10 km daily 89 GHz Brightness Temperature.

In this visualization, the daily Arctic sea ice and seasonal land cover change progress through time, from January 1, 2016, through September 10, 2016 when the sea ice reached its annual minimum extent for the year. Over the water, Arctic sea ice changes from day to day showing a running 3-day minimum 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 AMSR2 89 GHz brightness temperature. Over the terrain, monthly data from the seasonal Blue Marble Next Generation fades slowly from month to month.

An image of the Arctic sea ice on September 10, 2016.

An image of the Arctic sea ice on September 10, 2016.

An image of the Arctic sea ice on January 1, 2013.

An image of the Arctic sea ice on January 1, 2013.

The Arctic sea ice without the date overlay.

The Arctic sea ice without the date overlay.

The date overlay with transparency.

The date overlay with transparency.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Datasets used in this visualization

  • Terra and Aqua BMNG (Blue Marble: Next Generation)

    ID: 508
    Collected with MODIS 2004

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

    This dataset can be found at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/

    See all pages that use this dataset

  • SHIZUKU (GCOM-W1) 10 km Daily Sea Ice Concentration

    ID: 795
    Observed Data Collected with AMSR2 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 1/1/2013 - 9/10/2016

    Credit: AMSR2 data courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

    See all pages that use this dataset

  • SHIZUKU (GCOM-W1) 10 km Daily 89 GHz Brightness Temperature

    ID: 796
    Observed Data Collected with AMSR2 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 1/1/2013 - 9/10/2016

    Credit: AMSR2 data courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

    See all pages that use this dataset

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.