Annual Gradient Melt over Greenland 1979 Through 2009
The ice sheet melt extent is a daily (or every-other-day, prior to August 1987) estimate of the spatial extent of wet snow on the Greenland ice sheet derived from passive microwave satellite brightness temperature characteristics. This indicator of melt on each area of the ice sheet for each day of observation is physically based on the changes in microwave emission characteristics observable in data. Although it is not a direct measure of the snow wetness, it is representative of the amount of ice loss due to seasonal melting that occurs on the Greenland ice sheet.
This animation is a time series showing the regions of the Greenland ice sheet where melt occurred for more than three days between May 1st and September 30th for each year. Areas in which melt occurred for longer time periods are shown in a darker red while those areas melted for fewer days are shown in lighter red. Areas melted three or less days during the year are not colored.
This animation shows the change in annual melt over Greenland from 1979 through 2009 with a date overlay.
This animation shows the change in annual melt over Greenland from 1979 through 2007 without a date overlay.

The colorbar applied to this data.

Melt during 2009

Melt during 2008

Melt during 2007

Melt during 2006

Melt during 2005

Melt during 2004

Melt during 2003

Melt during 2002

Melt during 2001

Melt during 2000

Melt during 1999

Melt during 1998

Melt during 1997

Melt during 1996

Melt during 1995

Melt during 1994

Melt during 1993

Melt during 1992

Melt during 1991

Melt during 1990

Melt during 1989

Melt during 1988

Melt during 1987

Melt during 1986

Melt during 1985

Melt during 1984

Melt during 1983

Melt during 1982

Melt during 1981

Melt during 1980

Melt during 1979
The associated date overlay with transparency.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
The Next Generation Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
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Visualizer
- Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Animator
- Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC)
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Scientists
- Waleed Abdalati (NASA/GSFC)
- Thorsten Markus (NASA/GSFC)
Release date
This page was originally published on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.
Datasets used
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[DMSP: SSM/I]
ID: 11Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Special Sensor Microwave Imager
See all pages that use this dataset -
[Nimbus-7: SMMR]
ID: 78 -
Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Characteristics
ID: 594This dataset can be found at: http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0218.html
See all pages that use this dataset
Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.