Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Andy Lee Robinson: Visualizing Arctic Ice Loss


Andy Robinson has been creating some excellent visualizations of Arctic ice loss data and I figured it's about time I feature some of his best work over here:




Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Volumes 1979-2012

Published on Apr 22, 2013
This is an animated visualization of Arctic Sea Ice minimum volumes reached every September since 1979.
(I also composed and performed the piano music, "Iced Dreams")

The rate of ice loss in the Arctic is staggering. Since 1979, the volume of Summer Arctic Sea Ice has declined by 80% and is accelerating faster than scientists believed it would, or even could melt.
The first ice-free summer in the Arctic Ocean is expected to happen between 2016 and 2022.

About the data: Sea Ice Volume is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS, Zhang and Rothrock, 2003) developed at APL/PSC.
Source data for this graph is available from  

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Arctic Death Spiral - March 2013


Published on Apr 11, 2013

Arctic sea ice volume as of March 2013, just playing with the data! A static graph downloadable here:  http://haveland.com/share/arctic-death-spiral-1979-201303.png

2013 started the year with ONE TRILLION tonnes (1,058km³) less ice than last year - this is a third of the amount of ice remaining at 2012's record minimum.
The rate of ice loss in the Arctic is staggering. Since 1979, the volume of Summer Arctic Sea Ice has declined by 80% and is accelerating faster than scientists believed it would, or even could melt.
The first ice-free summer in the Arctic Ocean is expected to happen between 2016 and 2022.

This latest video by Andy Lee Robinson illustrates the dramatic decline since 1979 until the March 2013.

About the data: Sea Ice Volume is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS, Zhang and Rothrock, 2003) developed at APL/PSC.
Source data for this graph is available from  
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Arctic Sea Ice Collapse 1979-2012 (PIOMAS)


Published on Jan 24, 2013

March 2013 results just in: http://haveland.com/share/arctic-death-spiral-1979-201303.png - recovered a little, to about same as last year.

2013 started the year with ONE TRILLION tonnes (1,058km³) less ice than last year - this is a third of the amount of ice remaining at 2012's record minimum.
The rate of ice loss in the Arctic is staggering. Since 1979, the volume of Summer Arctic Sea Ice has declined by 80% and is accelerating faster than scientists believed it would, or even could melt.
The first ice-free summer in the Arctic Ocean is expected to happen between 2016 and 2022.

This latest video by Andy Lee Robinson illustrates the dramatic decline since 1979 until the end of 2012.

About the data: Sea Ice Volume is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS, Zhang and Rothrock, 2003) developed at APL/PSC.
Source data for this graph is available from

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Here is a NASA video based on Satellite data - it does an excellent job of putting Andy's animated graphs into perspective


NASA - Sea Ice Max 2013- An Interesting Year for Arctic Sea Ice






Published on Apr 3, 2013
NASAexplorer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4BPOEmugtM

Further videos about topics addressed are available in favourites, play lists on my channels and complementary video responses. Mirrored: http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAexplorer After a record melt season, an Arctic cyclone, and a fascinating fracturing event, Arctic sea ice has reached its maximum extent for the year



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