Sea Ice Maximum extent 2018
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- Visualizations by:
- Cindy Starr
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- Produced by:
- Kathryn Mersmann
- View full credits
This visualization shows the Arctic sea ice as it expands from October 1, 2017 to its annual maximum extent that occurred on March 17th, 2018.
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.
Sea ice in the Arctic grew to its annual maximum extent on March 17, 2018, joining 2015, 2016, and 2017 as the years with the lowest maximum extents on record, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and NASA. The Arctic sea ice cover peaked at 5.59 million square miles (14.48 million square kilometers), making it the second lowest maximum on record, at about 23,000 square miles (60,000 square kilometers) higher than the record low maximum reached on March 7, 2017.
This animation runs from October 1, 2017 to March 17, 2018, the date that the maximum sea ice extent occurred. The images shown here portray the sea ice as it was observed by the AMSR2 instrument onboard the Japanese Shizuku satellite. The opacity of the sea ice shown in this animation is derived from the AMSR2 sea ice concentration. The blueish white color shown on the sea ice is derived from the AMSR2 89 GHz brightness temperature data.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
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Visualizer
- Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.) [Lead]
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Producer
- Kathryn Mersmann (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) [Lead]
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Project support
- Eric Sokolowsky (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
- Joycelyn Thomson Jones (NASA/GSFC)
- Leann Johnson (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Datasets used in this visualization
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GTOPO30 Topography and Bathymetry
ID: 274 -
Terra and Aqua BMNG (Blue Marble: Next Generation)
ID: 508Credit: 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: 795Credit: 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: 796Credit: AMSR2 data courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
See all pages that use this dataset -
Greenland Mass Conservation Dataset - Surface Elevation
ID: 853This dataset can be found at: http://sites.uci.edu/morlighem/dataproducts/mass-conservation-dataset/
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.