The arctic sea ice

The sea ice coverage in the arctic naturally changes with the seasons:
around September it usually shrinks to its minimum, while in March it reaches its maximum extent. Choose a month to update the map:

The sea ice extent over the years

Global rising temperatures have led to significant reduction in the sea ice extent since 1979. Move the slider below to step through the years:

Sea Ice extent for

1979


Data Source: NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY