Sluggish Start for Arctic Sea Ice Freeze-Up

Early ice retreat amid warm Arctic air temperatures set the stage for the slow refreeze in 2020.

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NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center and MERRA-2 data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC. Story by Kathryn Hansen, with input from Julienne Stroeve/University College London/NSIDC.

Published December 8, 2020
Data acquired October 2020

Sources:

DMSP > SSM/I

DMSP > SSMIS

Model