Arctic Sea Ice from March to September 2017

In this visualization, the daily Arctic sea ice and seasonal land cover change progress through time, from this year’s wintertime maximum extent on March 7, 2017, through September 13, 2017 when the sea ice reached its annual minimum extent for the year. Over the water, Arctic sea ice changes from day to day showing a running 3-day minimum sea ice concentration in the region where the concentration is greater than 15%. The blueish white color of the sea ice is derived from a 3-day running minimum of the AMSR2 89 GHz brightness temperature. Over the terrain, monthly data from the seasonal Blue Marble Next Generation fades slowly from month to month.

This image shows the Arctic sea ice on September 13, 2017 when the ice reached its minimum extent. The opacity of the sea ice is derived from the sea ice concentration where it is greater than 15%. The blueish white color of the sea ice is derived the AMSR2 89 GHz brightness temperature. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) provides many water-related products derived from data acquired by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) instrument aboard the Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water "SHIZUKU" (GCOM-W1) satellite. Two JAXA datasets used in these visuals are the 10-km daily sea ice concentration and the 10 km daily 89 GHz Brightness Temperature.

A still image of the Arctic sea ice on September 13, 2017, when the ice reached its annual minimum. In addition, a yellow line marks the 30-year average minimum sea ice extent computed over the time period from 1981 through 2010.