File:2007 Arctic Sea Ice.jpg

From Global Warming Art

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Description

This image shows the record breaking September 2007 Arctic sea ice minimum in comparison to the previous 2005 record, and the median sea ice minima during 1979-2000. Sea ice concentration is indicated based on NASA's Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer. The North Pole is also indicated by the black disk.

Since open ocean is much darker than sea ice, ocean will absorb more heat than a similarly sized region of sea ice, hence the retreating sea ice accelerates warming in the Arctic. This is known as the ice-albedo feedback, and causes the Arctic to warm 2 or more times faster than the global average.

Copyright

This image was created for NASA by Jesse Allen, using AMSR-E data courtesy of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and sea ice extent contours courtesy of Terry Haran and Matt Savoie based on Special Sensor Microwave Imager data.

NASA's Earth Observatory: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17800

This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (NASA copyright policy page).