Earth ID: 3464

Sea Ice Yearly Minimum 1979-2007

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on September 26, 2007

There is a newer version of this story located here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4786

In 2007, Arctic summer sea ice reached its lowest extent on record - nearly 25% less than the previous low set in 2005. At the end of each summer, the sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent and what is left is what is called the perennial ice cover which consists mainly of thick multi-year ice floes. 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. But the 2007 minimum, reached on September 14, is far below the previous record made in 2005 and is about 38% lower than the climatological average. Such a dramatic loss has implications for ecology, climate and industry as new shipping lanes open.

This visualization shows the annual Arctic sea ice minimum from 1979 to 2007. A graph is overlaid that shows the area in million square kilometers for each year's minimum day. The previous record and the 2007 record are highlighted.

Print resolution still showing the 14 Sept 2007 sea ice minimum record and an overlay graph showing previous years

Newer Versions

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Visualizer
Josefino Comiso (NASA/GSFC): Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio Thanks to Rob Gerston (GSFC) for providing the data.

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Data Used:

DMSP/SSM/I

1979 through 2007

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Special Sensor Microwave Imager

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Comiso's September Minimum Sea Ice Concentration

Data Compilation - NASA/GSFC - 1979 through 2007

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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
SVS >> iPod
NASA Science >> Earth

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