Sea Ice Max 2013: An interesting year for Arctic sea ice

Sea Ice Max 2013: An interesting year for Arctic sea ice

NASA Goddard Visualisation Studio released video about state of Arctic sea ice during first three months of 2013. After a record melt season, an Arctic cyclone, and a fascinating fracturing event, Arctic sea ice has reached its maximum extent for the year. According to

Beginning of Arctic sea ice melting season

Beginning of Arctic sea ice melting season

The average extent of sea ice in the Arctic has begun shrinking and will probably reach its minimum extent sometime in mid-September. Arctic sea ice reached this year’s maximum extent on March 15 at 15.13 million square kilometers (5.84 million square

Arctic ice breaks up in Beaufort Sea

Arctic ice breaks up in Beaufort Sea

A series of intense storms in the Arctic has caused fracturing of the sea ice around the Beaufort Sea along the northern coasts of Alaska and Canada. High-resolution imagery from the Suomi NPP satellite shows the evolution of the cracks forming in the ice, called

Bedmap2 – detailed view of Antarctica’s landmass

Bedmap2 – detailed view of Antarctica’s landmass

Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have released the most detailed map yet of Antarctica’s landmass that allows scientists to better analyse the bed below the Antarctic ice sheet. Bedmap2 reveals a landscape of mountain ranges and plains

NSDIC: Arctic & Antarctic Sea Ice Extent, 1979-2012 animated maps

NSDIC: Arctic & Antarctic Sea Ice Extent, 1979-2012 animated maps

In October 2012, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) released an animated map of 2012 Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent shown side-by-side with 1979 – 2009 climatology.    For more information and visualizations of thinning sea ice, see the

Large fractures observed in the Arctic sea ice

Large fractures observed in the Arctic sea ice

Large fractures in the sea ice were observed off the north coast of Alaska and Canada, from near Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic to Barrow in Alaska, during the end of February and continuing into early March.According to the National Snow and Ice Data

An accelerating greening rate in the Arctic

An accelerating greening rate in the Arctic

Measurements show that temperatures have risen in the Arctic over the past three decades faster than anywhere else in the world. Plant communities in tundra and boreal ecosystems in the far north experienced major changes due the longer growing season. Satellite

Dimishing Arctic sea ice – CryoSat reveals facts about ice volumes

Dimishing Arctic sea ice – CryoSat reveals facts about ice volumes

An international team of scientists led by University College London provided insight into decline of Arctic sea ice volume and generated estimates of the sea-ice volume for the 2010–11 and 2011–12 winters over the Arctic basin using data from ESA’s CryoSat

Daily satellite data about the condition of the Greenland ice sheet

Daily satellite data about the condition of the Greenland ice sheet

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) launched a new website called Greenland Ice Sheet Today which provides daily satellite data about the condition of the Greenland ice sheet. The website also provides analysis, when possible, and will serve not only

“CHASING ICE” captures largest glacier calving ever filmed

“CHASING ICE” captures largest glacier calving ever filmed

In  this case a mass movement of ice, not rock and soil, on the Ilulissat Glacier in Western Greenland, a part of the film Chasing Ice. It is genuinely astonishing – the volume of the collapse is apparently 7.4 cubic kilometres.On May 28, 2008, Adam LeWinter and