Earth ID: 4215

North Polar Sea Ice Minimum, 2014

Visualizations by Trent L. Schindler Released on September 22, 2014

There is a newer version of this story located here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4684

Sea ice acts as an air conditioner for the planet, reflecting energy from the Sun. On September 17, the Arctic Sea ice reached its minimum extent for 2014 — at 1.94 million square miles (5.02 million square kilometers), it’s the sixth lowest extent of the satellite record. With warmer temperatures and thinner, less resilient ice, the Arctic sea ice is on a downward trend. The red line in the still image indicates the average ice extent over the 30 year period between 1981 and 2011.

Newer Versions

Visualization Credits

Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Lead Animator
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Visualizer
Joy Ng (USRA): Producer
Walt Meier (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Nathan T. Kurtz (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support

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

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Mission:
Terra

Data Used:

Terra and Aqua/MODIS/Blue Marble: Next Generation also referred to as: BMNG

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/

Credit:
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

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SHIZUKU (GCOM-W1)/AMSR2/10 km Daily Sea Ice Concentration

Observed Data - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Credit:
AMSR2 data courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

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SHIZUKU (GCOM-W1)/AMSR2/10 km Daily 89 GHz Brightness Temperature

Observed Data - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Credit:
AMSR2 data courtesy of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

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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.

Keywords:
DLESE >> Cryology
SVS >> Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Ice Edges
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Ice Extent
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice >> Ice Growth/Melt
SVS >> Ice Caps
NASA Science >> Earth
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Climate Indicators >> Cryospheric Indicators >> Ice Growth/melt

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