MMAB Sea Ice Analysis History Page

These time series histories develop naturally from the history of daily products. The Ice group has connections to several either older periods or to time series data sets. For full detail in how the daily polar and global fields are prepared, see Automated Passive Microwave Analysis .... Please note that this is a forward-looking table and even if there is a link for the month, this does not mean that we have (for example) the ice cover for 2012.

The climatology's data are from Chapman, W. L. and J. E. Walsh, Long-Range Prediction of Regional Sea Ice Anomalies in the Arctic, Weather and Forecasting, 6, pp 271-288, 1991. The data are available from the the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The climatology figures are based on the 90 years, 1901-1990 of this data set for the northern hemisphere, and the 18 years 1973-1990 for the southern hemisphere. The original data are monthly only, and have been interpolated to daily using the fourier decomposition of the monthly values.

e-mail errors or additional analysis sites to Robert.Grumbine@noaa.gov

Last Modified 11 September 2007.

Bering Sea Maximum April 4, 2001
Sea of Okhotsk Maximum March 4, 2001
The monthly animations vary from about 300 kb to 500 kb, with 450 kb being fairly typical.

Climatology and Animations of Monthly Sea Ice Fields

Month Climatology 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
January North South North South North South North South North South North South
February North South North South North South North South North South North South
March North South North South North South North South North South North South
April North South North South North South North South North South North South
May North South North South North South North South North South North South
June North South North South North South North South North South North South
July North South North South North South North South North South North South
August North South North South North South North South North South North South
September North South North South North South North South North South North South
October North South North South North South North South North South North South
November North South North South North South North South North South North South
December North South North South North South North South North South North South

Monthly Animations of sea ice fields 2001-2005

Month Climatology 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
January North South North South North South North South North South North South
February North South North South North South North South North South North South
March North South North South North South North South North South North South
April North South North South North South North South North South North South
May North South North South North South North South North South North South
June North South North South North South North South North South North South
July North South North South North South North South North South North South
August North South North South North South North South North South North South
September North South North South North South North South North South North South
October North South North South North South North South North South North South
November North South North South North South North South North South North South
December North South North South North South North South North South North South

Monthly Animations 1995-2000

Month 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
January North South North South North South North South North South North South
February North South North South North South North South North South North South
March North South North South North South North South North South North South
April North South North South North South North South North South North South
May North South North South North South North South North South North South
June North South North South North South North South North South North South
July North South North South North South North South North South North South
August North South North South North South North South North South North South
September North South North South North South North South North South North South
October North South North South North South North South North South North South
November North South North South North South North South North South North South
December North South North South North South North South North South North South

Annual animations of sea ice fields

For reasons of software limits and file size, these animations are in mpeg format. You will need an external piece of software to view the annual animations. Files are about 3 Mb, and will take about 16 minutes to transfer on a good dial up connection.

The 'year' is the ice year, starting October 1 of the listed year and running to September 30 of the following year. Ice year 1995 runs from 1 October 1995 to 30 September 1996. This is done because October 1 is a typical reference date in sea ice work, and because it is near the annual minimum. You'll be able to watch the growth and then decay of ice through the seasonal cycle.

The graphics are exactly the graphics available in the monthly animations. The only difference is to construct an annual file. Consequently, where there are missing graphics or data dropouts in the monthlies, there will also be so in the yearly.

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004

Sea Ice Historic and Climatological Analyses

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