Early 2016 Winter Storm Melts Arctic Sea Ice

  • Released Thursday, November 10, 2016
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This visualization starts with a global view of the Western hemisphere. The viewer then moves in over the arctic on December 27, 2015. Winds and air temperature fade in as time moves forward. A low pressure system then moves in pushing warm air ahead of it. The warm air moves over the Arctic sea ice, contributing to dramatic melting of the sea ice concentration in this region.

Arctic sea ice grows during the winter months, reaching its largest extent sometime in March. When something disrupts the cold, dry, winter Arctic atmosphere, sea ice can feel the effects, and these impacts may linger through the season. At the end of December 2015, a low pressure system formed in the north Atlantic and swept into the central Arctic, disrupting sea ice formation. As a result of this weather event, the concentration of sea ice in this region decreased by around ten percent. Sea ice extent stayed low throughout the month of January and large parts of the region remained unseasonably ice-free, which probably helped contribute to a record low Arctic sea ice maximum.

Sea ice concentration difference colorbar from December 28, 2015 to January 6, 2016. Deepening blue indicates more sea ice concentration. Deepening red indicates less sea ice concentration.

Sea ice concentration difference colorbar from December 28, 2015 to January 6, 2016. Deepening blue indicates more sea ice concentration. Deepening red indicates less sea ice concentration.

Air temperature colorbar.

Air temperature colorbar.

Print resolution still showing the difference in sea ice concentration from December 28, 2015 to January 6, 2016.

Print resolution still showing the difference in sea ice concentration from December 28, 2015 to January 6, 2016.

Print resolution still showing both the sea ice concentration difference along with air temperature and wind data.

Print resolution still showing both the sea ice concentration difference along with air temperature and wind data.

Credits

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

This page was originally published on Thursday, November 10, 2016.
This page was last updated on Sunday, June 23, 2024 at 10:33 PM EDT.

Related papers

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/MWR-D-16-0234.1

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/MWR-D-16-0234.1

Datasets used

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