Sea Ice Analysis Tool

Alert:  The Concentration Anomaly Map feature of this web application is currently down. We are aware of the issue and will get it resolved as soon as possible. 

How to use this tool

The data visualizations in this tool can be used to study Arctic and Antarctic sea ice concentration and extent patterns through time. You can use the Columns and Rows selectors in the upper left of the screen to compare multiple data visualizations to each other.

Monthly averaged data begin in November 1978 and go through last month. There are no monthly data for December 1987 or January 1988 due to satellite problems.

Sea Ice Extent Map: Display monthly-averaged or daily sea ice extent.

Sea Ice Extent Anomaly Graph: This graph shows how sea ice extent varies year to year, relative to your selected average period (climatology) for a particular month. In other words, is there more or less ice than average for that month? The dashed line on the graph shows how extent is generally trending over the chosen trend time period. Meaning, is the trend toward more ice, less ice, or no difference for that month? The gray bar provides the confidence range around the trend. The anomaly data (black square dots) shows how much the sea ice extent is changing compared to the average for the selected month. Use the controls in the tool to select a month, the years to calculate average monthly sea ice extent, and the time range to plot your trend times series. Data can be plotted as a times series in percent difference or in millions of square kilometers.

Sea Ice Concentration Map: Display the monthly-averaged or daily sea ice concentration.

Sea Ice Concentration Anomaly Map: Display images of sea ice concentration, as a departure from average in percent, showing how much the ice concentration for a month differs from its monthly average over the climatology time range selected. Color coded in shades of blue (less ice than the average) to red (more ice than the average).

Sea Ice Concentration Trend Map: Display images of trends in sea ice concentration that show whether the trend in sea ice concentration at a particular grid cell location is negative or positive and give some indication of its magnitude in percent change per decade based on the trend time range selected. Color coded in shades of blue (negative: trending toward less ice) to red (positive: trending toward more ice).

Daily data begin on 26 October 1978 and go through yesterday. From 26 October 1978 through 20 August 1987, the daily data occur every other day. From 21 August 1987 through yesterday, the data occur daily. There are no daily data from 3 December 1987 to 13 January 1988 due to satellite problems.