AMSR-E Arctic Sea Ice: September 2010 to March 2011

  • Released Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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Sea ice is frozen seawater floating on the surface of the ocean. Some sea ice is semi-permanent, persisting from year to year, and some is seasonal, melting and refreezing from season to season. The sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent at the end of each summer and the remaining ice is called the perennial ice cover.

In this animation, the Arctic sea ice and seasonal land cover change progress through time, from the 2010 minimum which occurred on September 17 through March 16, 2011. Over the water, Arctic sea ice changes from day to day showing a running 3-day maximum 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 maximum of the AMSR-E 89 GHz brightness temperature. Over the terrain, monthly data from the seasonal Blue Marble Next Generation fades slowly from month to month.

An animation of the Arctic sea ice from September 17th 2009 through March 16, 2011 with a date overlay and a star background.

An animation of the Arctic sea ice from September 17th 2009 through March 16, 2011 with a date overlay and transparency.

An animation of the star background matching the above animation.

A print resolution still image of the Arctic sea ice on March 16, 2011.

A print resolution still image of the Arctic sea ice on March 16, 2011.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

This page was originally published on Tuesday, March 29, 2011.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:53 PM EDT.

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