Disappearing Ice
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- Visualizations by:
- Cindy Starr
- View full credits
This visualization begins by showing the dynamic beauty of the Arctic sea ice as it responds to winds and ocean currents. Research into the behavior of the Arctic sea ice for the last 30 years has led to a deeper understanding of how this ice survives from year to year. In the animation that follows, age of the sea ice is visible, showing the younger ice in darker shades of blue and the oldest ice in brighter white. This visual representation of the ice age clearly shows how the quantity of older and thicker ice has changed between 1984 and 2016.
Complete transcript available.
In this visualization, the issue of the declining sea ice near the North Pole is set in its natural configuration. An analysis of the age of the Arctic sea ice indicates that it traditionally became older while circulating in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and was then primarily lost in the warmer regions along the eastern coast of Greenland. In recent years, however, warmer water in the Beaufort Sea, possibly from the Bering Strait, often melts away the sea ice in the summer before it can get older.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
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Visualizer
- Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.) [Lead]
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Scientist
- Walt Meier (NASA/GSFC)
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Producers
- LK Ward (KBRwyle)
- Stuart A. Snodgrass (KBRwyle)
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Narrators
- LK Ward (KBRwyle)
- Walt Meier (NASA/GSFC)
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Multimedia designer
- Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
Weekly Sea Ice Age
SSMI-SSMIS passive microwave data, augmented with buoys, AVHRR, AMSR-E, and winds
See more visualizations using this data setSHIZUKU (GCOM-W1) 10 km Daily 89 GHz Brightness Temperature (Collected with the AMSR2 sensor)
Credit: AMSR2 data courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
See more visualizations using this data setSHIZUKU (GCOM-W1) 10 km Daily Sea Ice Concentration (Collected with the AMSR2 sensor)
Credit: AMSR2 data courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
See more visualizations using this data setNote: 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.