Arctic sea ice, September 2008. This image, showing the Arctic above North America (bottom) is based on satellite data. The Arctic sea ice (white) rea

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Arctic sea ice, September 2008. This image, showing the Arctic above North America (bottom) is based on satellite data. The Arctic sea ice (white) reaches a minimum in September, at the end of the Arctic summer. This minimal ice area is called the perennial ice cover. The perennial ice has been steadily decreasing since satellites began observing it in 1979, at a rate of about 10 percent per decade. This decrease is attributed to global warming and climate change. The sea ice data for this image, obtained on 8 September, is from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) on the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) polar satellites.

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Size: 5606px × 3154px
Photo credit: © NASA/GSFC-SVS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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