Annual Gradient Melt over Greenland 1979 through 2007
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.
Color bar showing days of melt during the season. Regions of three or fewer days is not colored. Regions of more than 75 days of melt are shown as the darkest red.
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).
