Earth ID: 4985

Arctic Sea Ice Maximum 2022

Visualizations by Trent L. Schindler Released on March 22, 2022

There is a newer version of this story located here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5091

After growing through the fall and winter, sea ice in the Arctic appears to have reached its annual maximum extent. The image above shows the ice extent—defined as the total area in which the ice concentration is at least 15 percent—at its 2022 maximum, which occurred on February 25, tying with 2015 for the third earliest maximum on record. On this day the extent of the Arctic sea ice cover peaked at 14.88 million square kilometers (5.75 million square miles), making it the tenth lowest yearly maximum extent on record.

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Visualization Credits

Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Lead Visualizer
Kathleen Gaeta (GSFC Interns): Lead Writer
Roberto Molar-Candanosa (KBR Wyle Services, LLC): Producer

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

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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
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice
GCMD >> Location >> Arctic Ocean
SVS >> Hydrosphere >> Sea Ice
SVS >> Arctic Circle
NASA Science >> Earth
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Climate Indicators >> Cryospheric Indicators >> Sea Ice Concentration

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