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. This visualization shows Artic sea ice from July 1, 2008 through Septemeber 14, 2008 based on the DMSP/SSMI instrument. The minimum Arctic sea ice extent occurred the week of September 12, 2008, when the extent was 4.52 million sq km (1.74 million sq miles).
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