AMSR-E Arctic Sea Ice September 2009 to March 2010

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 maximum extent at the end of each winter.

In this animation, the Arctic sea ice and seasonal land cover change progress through time, from September 1, 2009 when sea ice in the Arctic was near its minimum extent, through March 30, 2010, the day before sea ice reached its 2010 maximum extent.

NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua Satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California on May 4, 2002. The primary goal of Aqua, as the name implies, is to gather information about water in the Earth's system. Equipped with six state-of-the-art instruments, Aqua will collect data on global precipitation, evaporation, and the cycling of water.

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - EOS (AMSR-E) is a one of the six sensors aboard Aqua. AMSR-E is passive microwave radiometer, modified from the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (ADEOS-II) AMSR, designed and provided by JAXA (contractor: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation). It observes atmospheric, land, oceanic, and cryospheric parameters, including precipitation, sea surface temperatures, ice concentrations, snow water equivalent, surface wetness, wind speed, atmospheric cloud water, and water vapor.

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Arctic
• Sea Ice
• AMSR-E
• NASA
• Aqua Satellite
• North Pole
• Polar
• Climate Change
• Global Warming