2005 - 2006 Sea Ice Concentration and Snow Cover (2 mb)
Sea Ice Concentration and Snow Cover
Description:
The Polar Regions amplify the effects of climate change and are therefore the center of many climate change studies. Sea ice concentrations have been monitored with satellites by the National Snow and Ice Data Center since 1978. Snow cover on land is also monitored in order to track the year-to-year changes in the snow cover extent. The Polar Regions are able to amplify the effects of climate change primarily due to their color. The bright white surfaces of snow and ice reflect sunlight back to space, but as snow and ice melts, darker surfaces such as land and oceans are revealed which absorb sunlight rather than reflect sunlight. The absorption of sunlight that wasn't previously occurring leads to additional warming. It seems certain that as the temperature rises, the sea ice will melt, but it is uncertain what will happen to the snow cover extent. Warming could increase snow melt and decrease the amount of precipitation that falls as snow, but some climate models are predicting an increase in precipitation amounts in high latitudes. This would mean more snow for the high latitudes and less snow for the low latitudes. There are also many feedbacks that are not fully understood between snow, temperature, soil moisture, cloudiness and other variables.
Minimum Sea Ice Concentration and Snow Cover (1 mb)
There are several datasets for Science On a Sphere that have historical sea ice records. The two here include both sea ice concentration and snow cover. The first is simply sea ice concentration and snow cover from September 2005 through September 2006. This dataset nicely shows the seasonal variations in the snow and ice. The second dataset only contains the September minimum sea ice coverage for each year from 1979 - 2004. September is the month that normally has the least amount of sea ice. The red line indicates the 15% mean sea ice extent derived from September 1979 - 2004. The NSIDC measures the sea ice extent in grid cells of 16 miles by 16 miles. They classify the extent of sea ice based on a simple percentage where 0% is no ice and 100% is all ice.
Notable Features: 2005 - 2006 Sea Ice and Snow Cover
- Seasonal variations of snow and ice cover
Notable Features: Minimum Sea Ice 1979 - 2004
- Amount of sea ice decreases with time
- The red line is the 15% mean sea ice extent from Sept. 1979 - 2004
Data Category
Major: Ocean
Keywords:
Ocean, sea ice, snow cover, climate change
| Data Set Name | 2005-2006_seaice |
| Data Set Source | National Snow and Ice Data Center |
| Data Set Developer | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Visualization Developer | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Audio | No |
| Contact | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Download | FTP |
| Data Set Name | minimum_seaice |
| Data Set Source | National Snow and Ice Data Center |
| Data Set Developer | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Visualization Developer | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Audio | No |
| Contact | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Download | FTP |