The Best of IceBridge Arctic 2013", "description": "The views from the cockpit of NASA's P-3B aircraft on an Operation IceBridge campaign are truly stunning. The mission doesn't travel to both ends of the Earth for the scenery of course — the airborne mission is there to collect radar, laser altimetry, and other data on the changing ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice of the Arctic and Antarctic. But for those of us who aren't polar pilots, here's a selection of some of the best footage from the forward and nadir cameras mounted to the aircraft taken during IceBridge's spring deployment over Greenland and the Arctic Ocean. || ", "hits": 19 }, { "id": 11259, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11259/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-05-01T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "GROVER Heads to Greenland", "description": "NASA is ready to test a new student-designed rover at the Summit Camp in Greenland, a research station sitting on a two-mile thick sheet of ice. The Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, or GROVER, carries ground-penetrating radar capable of measuring snow accumulation over time. || ", "hits": 43 }, { "id": 11194, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11194/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-03-19T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Mapping Polar Ice", "description": "In certain parts of Antarctica, the ice is disappearing—fast. To better understand how and why this is happening, NASA's Operation IceBridge mission uses a suite of advanced instruments aboard its DC-8 aircraft to survey the continent's layered ice deposits and underlying bedrock. One place scientists are looking at closely is the Getz Ice Shelf. The underside of this 300-mile-long floating tongue of ice hanging off West Antarctica is being eaten away by warm ocean currents. And a thin crack on its surface threatens to calve a large piece of it into the sea. In 2012, researchers mapped regions near the ice shelf's grounding line, the point where the ice leaves the support of land and begins to float on water, to determine how much ice is being lost to the ocean, and at what rate. Watch the video to learn more. || ", "hits": 45 }, { "id": 11135, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11135/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-11-16T20:00:00-05:00", "title": "Operation IceBridge 2012 Antarctic Campaign video series", "description": "This year Operation IceBridge completed 16 science flights over Antarctica and nearby sea ice, flying once again out of Punta Arenas, Chile. This video series contains a diverse set of products reflecting the science and adventure of the mission. || ", "hits": 38 }, { "id": 40124, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/arctic-sea-ice-resources/", "result_type": "Gallery", "release_date": "2012-08-24T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice", "description": "Sea ice cover is a key indicator of the Earth's polar climate system.\n\nSee also these vital signs from climate.nasa.gov:\n\nArctic Sea Ice Extent and Ice Sheets", "hits": 657 }, { "id": 11006, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11006/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-06-19T15:00:00-04:00", "title": "Operation IceBridge Hyperwall video (v1)", "description": "A silent video highlighting Operation IceBridge and designed for use on a nine or 15 screen hyperwall. || ", "hits": 21 }, { "id": 11001, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11001/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-06-12T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Five teachers, 500 meters above Greenland", "description": "This year five teachers were invited on board NASA's P-3B aircraft to fly at 500 meters above the glaciers of Greenland with Operation IceBridge, a six-year mission to study Arctic and Antarctic ice. Two teachers from Greenland, two from Denmark, and one from the United States were given the opportunity to see polar research first hand, and then take that experience back to their classrooms.For complete transcript, click here. || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_youtube_hq.00602_print.jpg (1024x576) [124.5 KB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_youtube_hq_web.png (320x180) [289.0 KB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_youtube_hq_thm.png (80x40) [17.8 KB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_appletv.m4v (960x540) [136.7 MB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_prores.mov (1280x720) [4.7 GB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [170.4 MB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_appletv.webmhd.webm (960x540) [56.1 MB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB.mov (640x360) [129.8 MB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [53.9 MB] || Teachers_fly_Greenland_OIB_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [28.6 MB] || ", "hits": 11 }, { "id": 10993, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10993/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-05-15T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Earth Day 2012: Beautiful Earth", "description": "Join Director and Musician Kenji Williams as he takes the Internet audience on a tour of the Earth from Space with his BELLA GAIA (www.bellagaia.com) multimedia show and interactive discussions with NASA Earth Scientist Thorsten Markus and Native American science educator Jim Rock. The show simulates spaceflight for the public and reminds us of the beauty and inter-connectedness of Earth's life systems. The program will emphasize Earth's Water in all of its forms: Liquid, Solid, and Vapor, from the Western scientific, Indigenous, Artistic, and Multi-cultural points of view. The event provides a real-time Internet link-up where students and teachers from schools across the country can interact live with the program. || ", "hits": 34 }, { "id": 10919, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10919/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-03-06T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "The Long Thaw", "description": "As 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. || ", "hits": 203 }, { "id": 10789, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10789/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-06-07T14:00:00-04:00", "title": "NPPy: Big Planet, Little Bear", "description": "NPP is the prototype of the next generation weather satellites, named JPSS. NPP has five instruments on board and will continue the legacy of existing weather satellites like Terra and Aqua. NPP will deliver critical data not only for weather forecasters but for scientists who are trying to understand how climate is changing over long periods of time. || ", "hits": 45 }, { "id": 10739, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10739/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-05-12T16:00:00-04:00", "title": "Operation IceBridge Flies the Ice Caps", "description": "Ice caps are simply small versions of ice sheets, measuring in at a maximum area of 50,000 square kilometers (about 19,000 square miles). It's their small and thin stature that makes ice caps more prone to melt in a warming Arctic. Charles Webb of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., explains the importance of monitoring ice caps in the Canadian Arctic A few flights within NASA's Operation IceBridge — an airborne mission to monitor Earth's polar ice — are adding to the long-term record of ice cap changes. Such a record can provide insight into ice cap dynamics as well as provide an early-warning indicator of the impacts of climate change. || ", "hits": 39 }, { "id": 10758, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10758/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-04-12T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "IceBridge Update Podcast", "description": "Science writer Kathryn Hansen and video producer Jefferson Beck give an update on Operation IceBridge from the field. They interview NASA engineer Kyle Krabill about the weather in Greenland and the flying conditions so far.For complete transcript, click here. || glacier_through_cockpit-640x360.png (640x360) [269.0 KB] || glacier_through_cockpit-80x40.png (80x40) [9.9 KB] || glacier_through_cockpit-160x80.png (160x80) [27.7 KB] || glacier_through_cockpit-320x180.png (320x180) [82.6 KB] || kj_podcast_1-portal_upload.webmhd.webm (960x540) [27.6 MB] || kj_podcast_1-portal_upload.mov (640x360) [49.2 MB] || kj_podcast_1-portal_upload_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [51.1 MB] || kj_podcast_1-portal_upload_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [26.3 MB] || ", "hits": 12 }, { "id": 10756, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10756/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-04-06T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Eight Down, One To Go", "description": "As of April 6, 2011, crew and scientists with NASA's Operation IceBridge mission have completed eight out of nine planned sea ice flights from Thule, Greeenland, and plan to fly one more from Kangerlussuaq. Michael Studinger, IceBridge project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., talks about the successes and challenges of logging 30,000 kilometers in an Arctic environment. Credit: NASA/Jefferson Beck || ", "hits": 29 }, { "id": 10751, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10751/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-03-30T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Earth's Climate Gets a Checkup: Operation IceBridge Takes to the Skies to Monitor Changing Arctic", "description": "NASA scientists have just begun the most recent leg of the Operation IceBridge Mission, an unprecedented six-year mission to study the Earth's polar regions, not through the lens of a satellite, but from onboard an airplane. In fact, IceBridge is the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown. || ", "hits": 22 }, { "id": 40070, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/70/", "result_type": "Gallery", "release_date": "2011-03-15T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Operation IceBridge - Deprecated", "description": "IceBridge, a NASA field campaign currently in its 11th year, is the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown. It will yield an unprecedented three-dimensional view of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves, and sea ice. These flights provide a yearly, multi-instrument look at the behavior of the rapidly changing features of both Arctic and Antarctic ice.\r\n\r\nData collected during IceBridge will help scientists bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) -- launched in 2003 -- and ICESat-2, launched September 15, 2018. ICESat stopped collecting science data in 2009, making IceBridge critical for ensuring a continuous series of observations.\r\n\r\nIceBridge uses airborne instruments to map Arctic and Antarctic areas once a year before the spring melt season takes hold. The first IceBridge flights were conducted in March/May 2009 over Greenland and in October/November 2009 over Antarctica. Other smaller airborne surveys around the world are also part of the IceBridge campaign.Photos and HD video clips", "hits": 62 }, { "id": 3782, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3782/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2010-10-20T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Operation IceBridge Flight Paths - Antarctica Fall 2010 Campaign", "description": "Operation IceBridge — a NASA airborne mission to observe changes in Earth's rapidly changing polar land ice and sea ice — is soon to embark on its fourth field season in October. The mission is now paralleled by a campaign to bring data to researchers as quickly as possible and to accelerate the analysis of those changes and how they may affect people and climate systems.Data from campaigns flown prior to the inception of IceBridge will also be archived at NSIDC. These include data from the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) instrument; mountain glacier data from the University of Alaska Fairbanks; and deep radar bedmap data from University of Kansas radar instruments. Combined with NSIDC's existing complete archive of data from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument aboard ICESat, researchers will be able to access a rich repository of complementary measurements.IceBridge, a six-year NASA mission, is the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown. It will yield an unprecedented three-dimensional view of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ice. These flights will provide a yearly, multi-instrument look at the behavior of the rapidly changing features of the Greenland and Antarctic ice.Data collected during IceBridge will help scientists bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's ICESat — in orbit since 2003 — and ICESat-2, planned for late 2015. ICESat stopped collecting science data in 2009, making IceBridge critical for ensuring a continuous series of observations. || ", "hits": 70 }, { "id": 10602, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10602/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-04-22T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Behind the Scenes with Operation IceBridge", "description": "Learn what a typical day is like with Operation IceBridge scientists, pilots and crew as they explore the polar ice sheets. This video includes exclusive footage of Arctic sea ice and Greenland glaciers. || ", "hits": 20 }, { "id": 10597, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10597/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-04-06T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Operation IceBridge's 2010 Arctic Campaign Takes Off: Reporters Package", "description": "NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth's polar ice, kicked off its second year of study in late March 2010. The IceBridge mission allows scientists to track changes in the extent and thickness of polar ice, which is important to understanding ice dynamics. IceBridge began in March 2009 as a means to fill the gap in polar observations between the loss of NASA's ICESat satellite and the launch of ICESat-2, planned for 1015. Annual missions fly over the Arctic in March and April and over the Antarctic in October and November. This video gives a brief overview of the start of the Arctic 2010 IceBridge campaign.For complete transcript, click here. || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_appletv.00127_print.jpg (1024x768) [113.3 KB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_appletv_web.png (320x240) [292.7 KB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_appletv_thm.png (80x40) [16.9 KB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_appletv_searchweb.png (320x180) [85.3 KB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_appletv.webmhd.webm (960x540) [19.3 MB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_appletv.m4v (960x720) [44.5 MB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_ProResBroll.mov (1280x720) [1.3 GB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_YouTubeHQ.mov (1280x720) [43.6 MB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_goddard_shorts.m4v (640x360) [15.4 MB] || GSFC_20100406_OIB_m10597_Pkg2a.en_US.srt [1.8 KB] || GSFC_20100406_OIB_m10597_Pkg2a.en_US.vtt [1.8 KB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_NASA_PORTAL.wmv (346x260) [13.4 MB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_podcast.m4v (320x180) [6.2 MB] || G2010-028_OIB_Pkg2_SVS.mpg (512x288) [11.4 MB] || ", "hits": 24 }, { "id": 40005, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/warmingworld-snapsfromspace/", "result_type": "Gallery", "release_date": "2010-03-01T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Warming world: Snaps from space", "description": "No description available.", "hits": 119 }, { "id": 3619, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3619/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2009-09-01T18:00:00-04:00", "title": "A Tour of the Cryosphere 2009", "description": "The cryosphere consists of those parts of the Earth's surface where water is found in solid form, including areas of snow, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost, ice sheets, and icebergs. In these regions, surface temperatures remain below freezing for a portion of each year. Since ice and snow exist relatively close to their melting point, they frequently change from solid to liquid and back again due to fluctuations in surface temperature. Although direct measurements of the cryosphere can be difficult to obtain due to the remote locations of many of these areas, using satellite observations scientists monitor changes in the global and regional climate by observing how regions of the Earth's cryosphere shrink and expand.This animation portrays fluctuations in the cryosphere through observations collected from a variety of satellite-based sensors. The animation begins in Antarctica, showing some unique features of the Antarctic landscape found nowhere else on earth. Ice shelves, ice streams, glaciers, and the formation of massive icebergs can be seen clearly in the flyover of the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica. A time series shows the movement of iceberg B15A, an iceberg 295 kilometers in length which broke off of the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000. Moving farther along the coastline, a time series of the Larsen ice shelf shows the collapse of over 3,200 square kilometers ice since January 2002. As we depart from the Antarctic, we see the seasonal change of sea ice and how it nearly doubles the apparent area of the continent during the winter.From Antarctica, the animation travels over South America showing glacier locations on this mostly tropical continent. We then move further north to observe daily changes in snow cover over the North American continent. The clouds show winter storms moving across the United States and Canada, leaving trails of snow cover behind. In a close-up view of the western US, we compare the difference in land cover between two years: 2003 when the region received a normal amount of snow and 2002 when little snow was accumulated. The difference in the surrounding vegetation due to the lack of spring melt water from the mountain snow pack is evident.As the animation moves from the western US to the Arctic region, the areas affected by permafrost are visible. As time marches forward from March to September, the daily snow and sea ice recede and reveal the vast areas of permafrost surrounding the Arctic Ocean.The animation shows a one-year cycle of Arctic sea ice followed by the mean September minimum sea ice for each year from 1979 through 2008. The superimposed graph of the area of Arctic sea ice at this minimum clearly shows the dramatic decrease in Artic sea ice over the last few years.While moving from the Arctic to Greenland, the animation shows the constant motion of the Arctic polar ice using daily measures of sea ice activity. Sea ice flows from the Arctic into Baffin Bay as the seasonal ice expands southward. As we draw close to the Greenland coast, the animation shows the recent changes in the Jakobshavn glacier. Although Jakobshavn receded only slightly from 1964 to 2001, the animation shows significant recession from 2001 through 2009. As the animation pulls out from Jakobshavn, the effect of the increased flow rate of Greenland costal glaciers is shown by the thinning ice shelf regions near the Greenland coast.This animation shows a wealth of data collected from satellite observations of the cryosphere and the impact that recent cryospheric changes are making on our planet.For more information on the data sets used in this visualization, visit NASA's EOS DAAC website.Note: This animation is an update of the animation 'A Short Tour of the Cryosphere', which is itself an abridged version of the animation 'A Tour of the Cryosphere'. The popularity of the earlier animations and their continuing relevance prompted us to update the datasets in parts of the animation and to remake it in high definition. In certain cases, our experiences in using the earlier work have led us to tweak the presentation of some of the material to make it clearer. Our thanks to Dr. Robert Bindschadler for suggesting and supporting this remake. || ", "hits": 114 }, { "id": 10416, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10416/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2009-04-07T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Guided Tour of LIMA Flyover", "description": "In 2007, more than 1,100 Landsat 7 images were used to create the first ever, high-resolution, true color map of Antarctica. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) is a virtually cloud-free, 3-D view of Antarctica's frozen landscape produced by NASA, working with the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey.Visualizers stitched together Landsat 7 satellite imagery acquired in 1999 and 2001 with a digital elevation model and field data measurements. || ", "hits": 337 }, { "id": 10371, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10371/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2009-01-17T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Climate Change and Polar Ice: Are We Waking Sleeping Giants w/ Dr. Waleed Abdalati", "description": "Water covers more than 70% of our planet's surface and largely governs so many things from climate change to the sustenance of life on earth. What you may not realize is the vital importance played by the solid part of our planet's water inventory. || ", "hits": 35 }, { "id": 10353, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10353/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2008-09-25T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Sea Ice 2008", "description": "Arctic sea ice declined this summer to its second smallest extent in the satellite era, suggesting that the record set in 2007 may not have been an anomaly. If recent trends in the melt rate continue, we could see a virtually ice-free Arctic each summer much sooner than previously thought.For complete transcript, click here. || SeaIce2008_320iPod.03621_print.jpg (1024x576) [95.6 KB] || SeaIce2008_320iPod_web.png (320x180) [129.4 KB] || SeaIce2008_320iPod_thm.png (80x40) [17.3 KB] || SeaIce2008_AppleTV.webmhd.webm (960x540) [46.7 MB] || SeaIce2008_AppleTV.m4v (960x540) [115.0 MB] || SeaIce2008_fullH264.mov (1280x720) [112.5 MB] || SeaIce2008_640iPod.m4v (640x360) [37.0 MB] || Sea_Ice_2008_640x360_Youtube.mov (640x480) [40.7 MB] || GSFC_20080925_SeaIce_m10353_2008.en_US.srt [6.0 KB] || GSFC_20080925_SeaIce_m10353_2008.en_US.vtt [5.7 KB] || SeaIce2008_320iPod.m4v (320x180) [16.6 MB] || SeaIce2008_podcast.mp4 (320x236) [14.7 MB] || SeaIce2008_512x288.mpg (512x288) [50.7 MB] || ", "hits": 50 }, { "id": 20164, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20164/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2008-07-22T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "POLAR Spacecraft in orbit", "description": "POLAR looks at the polar aurora and sun-earth connection long term effects. || Polar Spacecraft in orbit || Polar-spacecraft00002_print.jpg (1024x691) [170.0 KB] || Polar-spacecraft_web.png (320x216) [252.1 KB] || Polar-spacecraft_thm.png (80x40) [16.6 KB] || Polar-spacecraft_searchweb.png (320x180) [120.7 KB] || Polar-spacecraft.webmhd.webm (960x540) [4.0 MB] || Polar-spacecraft.mov (320x216) [32.9 MB] || ", "hits": 14 }, { "id": 20116, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20116/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2007-09-17T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Global Ice Albedo ALTERNATE", "description": "This is a conceptual animation showing how polar ice reflects light from the sun. As this ice begins to melt, less sunlight gets reflected into space. It is instead absorbed into the oceans and land, raising the overall temperature, and fueling further melting. || icealbedoGalt_512x28800077_print.jpg (1024x576) [67.8 KB] || icealbedoGalt_512x288_web.png (320x180) [175.8 KB] || icealbedoGalt_512x288_thm.png (80x40) [14.0 KB] || 1280x720_16x9_60p (1280x720) [128.0 KB] || icealbedoGalt_720p.m2v (1280x720) [36.5 MB] || icealbedoGalt_720p.webmhd.webm (960x540) [4.7 MB] || a010160_icealbedoGalt_720p.mp4 (640x360) [3.2 MB] || icealbedoGalt_512x288.m1v (512x288) [6.3 MB] || ", "hits": 198 }, { "id": 3181, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3181/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2005-12-04T23:55:00-05:00", "title": "A Tour of the Cryosphere", "description": "A new HD version of this animation is available here.Click here to go to the media download section.The cryosphere consists of those parts of the Earth's surface where water is found in solid form, including areas of snow, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost, ice sheets, and icebergs. In these regions, surface temperatures remain below freezing for a portion of each year. Since ice and snow exist relatively close to their melting point, they frequently change from solid to liquid and back again due to fluctuations in surface temperature. Although direct measurements of the cryosphere can be difficult to obtain due to the remote locations of many of these areas, using satellite observations scientists monitor changes in the global and regional climate by observing how regions of the Earth's cryosphere shrink and expand.This animation portrays fluctuations in the cryosphere through observations collected from a variety of satellite-based sensors. The animation begins in Antarctica, showing ice thickness ranging from 2.7 to 4.8 kilometers thick along with swaths of polar stratospheric clouds. In a tour of this frozen continent, the animation shows some unique features of the Antarctic landscape found nowhere else on earth. Ice shelves, ice streams, glaciers, and the formation of massive icebergs can be seen. A time series shows the movement of iceberg B15A, an iceberg 295 kilometers in length which broke off of the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000. Moving farther along the coastline, a time series of the Larsen ice shelf shows the collapse of over 3,200 square kilometers ice since January 2002. As we depart from the Antarctic, we see the seasonal change of sea ice and how it nearly doubles the size of the continent during the winter.From Antarctica, the animation travels over South America showing areas of permafrost over this mostly tropical continent. We then move further north to observe daily changes in snow cover over the North American continent. The clouds show winter storms moving across the United States and Canada, leaving trails of snow cover behind. In a close-up view of the western US, we compare the difference in land cover between two years: 2003 when the region received a normal amount of snow and 2002 when little snow was accumulated. The difference in the surrounding vegetation due to the lack of spring melt water from the mountain snow pack is evident.As the animation moves from the western US to the Arctic region, the areas effected by permafrost are visible. In December, we see how the incoming solar radiation primarily heats the Southern Hemisphere. As time marches forward from December to June, the daily snow and sea ice recede as the incoming solar radiation moves northward to warm the Northern Hemisphere.Using satellite swaths that wrap the globe, the animation shows three types of instantaneous measurements of solar radiation observed on June 20, 2003: shortwave (reflected) radiation, longwave (thermal) radiation and net flux (showing areas of heating and cooling). Correlation between reflected radiation and clouds are evident. When the animation fades to show the monthly global average net flux, we see that the polar regions serve to cool the global climate by radiating solar energy back into space throughout the year.The animation shows a one-year cycle of the monthly average Arctic sea ice concentration followed by the mean September minimum sea ice for each year from 1979 through 2004. A red outline indicates the mean sea ice extent for September over 22 years, from 1979 to 2002. The minimum Arctic sea ice animation clearly shows how over the last 5 years the quantity of polar ice has decreased by 10 - 14% from the 22 year average.While moving from the Arctic to Greenland, the animation shows the constant motion of the Arctic polar ice using daily measures of sea ice activity. Sea ice flows from the Arctic into Baffin Bay as the seasonal ice expands southward. As we draw close to the Greenland coast, the animation shows the recent changes in the Jakobshavn glacier. Although Jakobshavn receded only slightly from 1042 to 2001, the animation shows significant recession over the past three years, from 2002 through 2004.This animation shows a wealth of data collected from satellite observations of the cryosphere and the impact that recent cryospheric changes are making on our planet.For more information on the data sets used in this visualization, visit NASA's EOS DAAC website. || ", "hits": 166 }, { "id": 3094, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3094/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2005-02-01T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Average Total-sky Net Radiant Flux (WMS)", "description": "The Earth's climate is determined by energy transfer from the sun to the Earth's land, oceans, and atmosphere. As the Earth rotates, the sun lights up only part of the Earth at a time, and some of that incoming solar energy is reflected and some is absorbed, depending on type of area it lights. The average amount of reflection and absorption is critical to the climate, because the absorbed energy heats up the Earth until it is radiated away as thermal radiation. This animation shows the monthly average net radiant flux from July, 2002 through June, 2004 as measured by the CERES instrument. This is the incoming radiation minus the outgoing reflected or thermal energy given off by areas of the Earth. Regions in red and yellow have a net incoming flux and are being heated. Regions in blue have a net outgoing flux and are being cooled. Regions in black are in rough equilibrium. Cloud-free summertime oceans are heated the most, while high latitude winter regions are cooled the most, probably because of the longer winter nights. Note that regions that reflect a lot of sunlight, such as the polar ice sheets and the Sahara desert are almost always in equilibrium or are cooling regions. || ", "hits": 32 }, { "id": 20029, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20029/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2004-06-23T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Ocean Circulation Conveyor Belt Helps Balance Climate", "description": "As part of the ocean conveyor belt, warm water from the tropical Atlantic moves poleward near the surface where it gives up some of its heat to the atmosphere. This process partially moderates the cold temperatures at higher latitudes. As the warm water gives up its heat it becomes more dense and sinks. This circulation loop is closed as the cooled water makes its way slowly back toward the tropics at lower depths in the ocean.If the poles warm, it is possible that melt water from glaciers and the polar ice cap can shut off this circulation and interrupt this circulation system. The melt water is fresher and hence less dense than the ocean water it melts into, and thus the melt water will tend to accumulate near the surface. This layer of fresh water acts as an insulating barrier between the atmosphere and the normal ocean water. The water from the tropics can not release its heat to the atmosphere, and the circulation loop is interrupted. The mechanism has a positive feedback potential in that if the ocean circulation slows, then even less heat will make it to the higher latitudes re-enforcing an effect that will cool the climate at these higher latitudes. || ", "hits": 100 }, { "id": 20023, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20023/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2004-02-09T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Ice Albedo: Black Soot and Snow", "description": "Black soot may contribute to melting glaciers and other ice on the planet and eventually a warmer Earth. Traveling potentially thousands of miles from its sources on air currents, this pollution eventually settles out of the air, onto land and into the oceans. On ice and snow, it darkens normally bright surfaces. Just as a white shirt keeps a person cooler in the summer than a black shirt, the vast stretches of polar ice covering much of the planet's top and bottom reflect large amounts of solar radiation falling on the planet's surface, helping regulate Earth's temperature. Soot lowers this albedo, or reflectivity, and the ice retains more heat, leading to increased melting.Soot-darkened ice retains more light, contributing to the process. As light is absorbed, the environment is heated, thus intensifying a feedback loop: a warmer planet yields more ice melting and thus an even warmer planet. || ", "hits": 139 }, { "id": 20021, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20021/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2003-12-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Ice Albedo - Global View", "description": "This is a conceptual animation showing how polar ice reflects light from the sun. As this ice begins to melt, less sunlight gets reflected into space. It is instead absorbed into the oceans and land, raising the overall temperature, and fueling further melting. || ", "hits": 98 }, { "id": 2745, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/2745/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2003-05-15T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "ICESat First Light Release: Antarctica in Three Dimensions", "description": "ICESat's orbit was designed to maximize coverage over the great polar ice sheets, where ground tracks overlap to create an intricate grid of data points. The accumulation of these data points in the Southern Hemisphere results in a new three-dimensional elevation model of Antarctica. ICESat repeats its orbital pattern every eight days, allowing the GLAS instrument to measure changes over time in the same location. In order to measure ice sheet mass balance, the satellite's advanced technology is providing data on the critically important third dimension, elevation. || ", "hits": 298 }, { "id": 1075, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/1075/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2000-05-30T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Modeled Arctic Sea Ice Thickness From 1940 Through 2060: View #1", "description": "Part of the ongoing research into polar ice trends encompasses evaluation from sophisticated computer models. At the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University, run by NASA's sibling agency, NOAA, researchers modeled a 5,000 year period to see how polar ice might behave over time depending on several different variables. This visualization shows a 120-year slice of that complete model, essentially offering a research window on to experimental processes that require longer time frames than human lifetimes. According to the model shown here, projecting a period from 1940 to 2060, there is evidence to suggest human factors have had a measurable effect on Arctic ice decreases. || ", "hits": 12 }, { "id": 1076, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/1076/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2000-05-30T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Modeled Arctic Sea Ice Thickness from 1940 through 2060: View #2", "description": "Part of the ongoing research into polar ice trends encompasses evaluation from sophisticated computer models. At the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University, run by NASA's sibling agency, NOAA, researchers modeled a 5,000 year period to see how polar ice might behave over time depending on several different variables. This visualization shows a 120-year slice of that complete model, essentially offering a research window on to experimental processes that require longer time frames than human lifetimes. According to the model shown here, projecting a period from 1940 to 2060, there is evidence to suggest human factors have had a measurable effect on Arctic ice decreases. || ", "hits": 13 }, { "id": 1077, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/1077/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2000-05-30T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Modeled Arctic Sea Ice Thickness From 1940 Through 2060: View #3", "description": "Part of the ongoing research into polar ice trends encompasses evaluation from sophisticated computer models. At the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University, run by NASA's sibling agency, NOAA, researchers modeled a 5,000 year period to see how polar ice might behave over time depending on several different variables. This visualization shows a 120-year slice of that complete model, essentially offering a research window on to experimental processes that require longer time frames than human lifetimes. According to the model shown here, projecting a period from 1940 to 2060, there is evidence to suggest human factors have had a measurable effect on Arctic ice decreases. || ", "hits": 7 }, { "id": 1078, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/1078/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2000-05-30T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Modeled Arctic Sea Ice Thickness From 1940 Through 2060: View #4", "description": "Part of the ongoing research into polar ice trends encompasses evaluation from sophisticated computer models. At the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University, run by NASA's sibling agency, NOAA, researchers modeled a 5,000 year period to see how polar ice might behave over time depending on several different variables. This visualization shows a 120-year slice of that complete model, essentially offering a research window on to experimental processes that require longer time frames than human lifetimes. According to the model shown here, projecting a period from 1940 to 2060, there is evidence to suggest human factors have had a measurable effect on Arctic ice decreases. || ", "hits": 13 }, { "id": 1079, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/1079/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2000-05-30T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Modeled Arctic Sea Ice Thickness From 1940 Through 2060: View #5", "description": "Part of the ongoing research into polar ice trends encompasses evaluation from sophisticated computer models. At the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University, run by NASA's sibling agency, NOAA, researchers modeled a 5,000 year period to see how polar ice might behave over time depending on several different variables. This visualization shows a 120-year slice of that complete model, essentially offering a research window on to experimental processes that require longer time frames than human lifetimes. According to the model shown here, projecting a period from 1940 to 2060, there is evidence to suggest human factors have had a measurable effect on Arctic ice decreases. || ", "hits": 9 } ] }