Earth  ID: 5002

Annual Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Area 1979-2022

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. This graph displays the area of the minimum sea ice coverage each year from 1979 through 2021. In 2021, the Arctic minimum sea ice covered an area of 4.13 million square kilometers (1.6 million square miles).

This visualization shows the expanse of the annual minimum Arctic sea ice for each year from 1979 through 2021 as derived from passive microwave data. A graph overlay shows the area in million square kilometers for each year's minimum day.
 

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Visualization Credits

Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Lead Visualizer
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Visualizer
Josefino Comiso (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Walt Meier (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Robert Gersten (Wyle Information Systems): Sr. Data Analyst
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Eric Sokolowsky (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Project Support
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5002

Data Used:
DMSP/SSM/I/Sea Ice Concentration
Comiso's September Minimum Sea Ice Concentration
Data Compilation - NASA/GSFC - 1979-2021
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.

This item is part of this series:
Arctic Annual Sea Ice Minimum with Graph Overlay

Keywords:
DLESE >> Cryology
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Sea Ice Concentration
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Sea Ice >> Sea Ice Concentration
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Earth
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Climate Indicators >> Cryospheric Indicators >> Sea Ice Concentration

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0