Earth  ID: 11932

The Evolving Arctic

Arctic sea ice, the cap of frozen seawater floating on top of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas, hit its yearly summertime minimum extent on Sept. 11. At 1.70 million square miles, this year’s minimum extent is the fourth lowest on the satellite record. The sea ice cover grows and shrinks with the seasons but its minimum summertime extent has been in decline since the late 1970s in response to warming temperatures. Despite no extraordinary meteorological conditions during this summer that could have contributed to the melt, the weakened state of the ice has led to a 2015 minimum extent that is 699,000 square miles smaller than the 1981-2010 average. This is equivalent to losing an area of sea ice larger than the state of Alaska. Watch the video to see the evolution of this year's Arctic sea ice cover from its wintertime maximum extent to its summertime minimum.
 

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NASA.gov


Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Producer:
Sophia Roberts (USRA)

Scientists:
Josefino Comiso (NASA/GSFC)
Walt Meier (NASA/GSFC)

Project Support:
Robert Gersten (RSIS)
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Lead Writer:
Maria-Jose Vinas Garcia (Telophase)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11932

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Earth