A newer version of this visualization is available.
Sea Ice Minimum Concentration 3-year moving averages for 1979-1981 to 2004-2006
Sea ice is frozen seawater floating on the surface of the ocean. Some sea ice is semi-permanent, persisting from year to year, and some is seasonal, melting and refreezing from season to season. The sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent at the end of each summer and the remaining ice is called the perennial ice cover. This animation shows a 3-year moving average of the perennial ice cover, or minimum sea ice concentration, for from 1979-1981 through 2004-2006. The area of the perennial ice has been steadily decreasing since the satellite record began in 1979, at a rate of about 10% per decade. This decrease is evident in the animation shown here.
This is an update of animation ID #3267.
Sea ice concentration3-year moving average from 1979-1981 through 2004-2006.
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1979-1981
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1989-1982
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1981-1983
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1982-1984
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1983-1985
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1984-1986
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1985-1987
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1986-1988
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1987-1989
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1988-1990
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1989-1991
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1990-1992
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1991-1993
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1992-1994
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1993-1995
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1994-1996
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1995-1997
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1996-1998
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1997-1999
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1998-2000
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 1999-2001
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 2000-2002
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 2001-2003
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 2002-2004
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 2003-2005
Sea ice concentration 3-year average from 2004-2006
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
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Visualizer
- Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Animator
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
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Scientist
- Josefino Comiso (NASA/GSFC)
Release date
This page was originally published on Friday, August 31, 2007.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Datasets used in this visualization
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[DMSP: SSM/I]
ID: 11Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Special Sensor Microwave Imager
See all pages that use this dataset -
September Sea Ice Concentration Anomaly [Nimbus-7: SSMR]
ID: 421 -
Monthly Average Precipitation [TRMM: PR and TMI]
ID: 516This dataset can be found at: http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/datapool/TRMM/01_Data_Products/index.html
See all pages that use this dataset -
Comiso's September Minimum Sea Ice Concentration
ID: 540
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.
Newer Versions
- ID: 4435
Visualization