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 globe slowly rotates one full rotation while the Arctic sea ice and seasonal land cover change throughout the years. The animation begins on September 21, 2005 when sea ice in the Arctic was at its minimum extent, and continues through September 20, 2008. This time period repeats twice during the animation, playing at a rate of one frame per day. Over the terrain, monthly data from the seasonal Blue Marble Next Generation fades slowly from month to month. Over the water, Arctic sea ice changes from day to day. This visualization is a stereoscopic version of animation entry: #3571: AMSR-E Arctic Sea Ice: 2005 to 2008 In this page the visualization content is offered in two different modes to accomodate stereoscopic systems, such as: Left and Right Eye separate and Left and Right Eye side-by-side combined on the same frame.
|