Earth ID: 3916

Multi-year Arctic Sea Ice

Visualizations by Cindy Starr Released on February 23, 2012

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.

These still images show a comparison of the perennial Arctic sea ice and the first-year sea ice in 1980, 2008 and 2012. The bright white central mass shows the perennial sea ice while the larger light blue area shows the full extent of the winter sea ice including the average annual sea ice during the months of November, December and January.

An image of multi-year sea ice (brighter white) shown over the average sea ice (light blue) during the three winter months ending in January 2012. This image has a transparent background.

An image of multi-year sea ice (brighter white) shown over the average sea ice (light blue) during the three winter months ending in January 1980. This image has a transparent background.

An image of multi-year sea ice (brighter white) shown over the average sea ice (light blue) during the three winter months ending in January 2008. This image has a transparent background.

Visualization Credits

Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Visualizer
Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Jefferson Beck (USRA): Producer
Josefino Comiso (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
James W. Williams (GST): Project Support
Maria-Jose Vinas Garcia (Telophase): Writer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3916

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