State of the Cryoshpere SOTC

Arctic Mosaic

Arctic mosaic, September 15-16, 2007
On September 15-16, 2007, at the time of the Arctic sea ice minimum, relatively cloud-free skies enabled the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra to observe much of the sea ice and open ocean throughout the Arctic. Overlaid onto the image are sea ice minima from 2007 (medium blue), the previous record low from 2005 (light blue), and the long-term average from 1979-2000 (gray). The 2007 minimum, which correlates closely with the ice visible through clouds in this image, fell substantially below previous records. Image by Terry Haran, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, using NASA MODIS data.
This image is also available as a PNG file (58.1 MB) at 500-meter resolution.

Last updated: 14 May 2008

General and scientific terms related to sea ice


NSIDC's blog for the Arctic sea ice minimum season


Answers to common questions about Arctic sea ice


Find basic information on Arctic sea ice.


Overview of different sea ice types and why sea ice matters


University of Colorado at Boulder Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)

The National Snow and Ice Data Center
Supporting Cryospheric Research Since 1976
449 UCB  University of Colorado  Boulder, CO 80309-0449
NSIDC Home  | NSIDC Web Policy  |  Use/Copyright Info
 |  Browser Support