NASA Logo
Skip all navigation and jump to content Jump to site navigation
Link to SVS Home Page Link to SVS Projects page Link to SVS Resources page Link to SVS Search page Link to SVS Sitemap

Previous Animation Next Animation
Daily Snow and Sea Ice Temperature over Asia
This animation shows the global advance and retreat of daily snow cover along with daily sea ice surface temperature over Asia from September 2002 through May 2003. The snow cover was measured by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite, while the sea ice surface temperature was measured by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite. Since these instruments cannot take measurements through clouds, in cloud-covered regions or areas with suspect data quality, the prior day's value is retained until a valid data reading is obtained. This visualization designates an area as covered by snow when the instrument takes a valid measurement showing greater than ~50% snow coverage in that area. This area is assumed to be snow covered until the instrument takes a valid measurement showing less than 40% snow coverage in that same area. A color bar indicates the sea ice surface temperature values. The satellite instruments are unable to collect data through darkness. The region in polar darkness is shown as a grey cap over the pole that grows and shrinks seasonally. A date slider indicates the progression of time. SeaWiFS Land Reflectance shows the seasonal changes in landcover.

This animation shows the daily advance and retreat of snow cover, and sea ice surface temperature over Asia during the winter of 2002-2003.    This animation shows the daily advance and retreat of snow cover, and sea ice surface temperature over Asia during the winter of 2002-2003.

View the movie:
   512 x 288   MPEG-1   7 MB
   720 x 400   MPEG-1   29 MB
Download the frames here.


How to play our movies

This color bar shows the colors used to represent the sea ice surface temperature.  The coldest water is shown in light blue.  The warmest sea ice is shown in shades of pink.  As the sea ice surface temperatures cool below -15 degrees Celsius, the color is shown in shades of purple.  The sea ice surface below -28 degrees Celsius is shown in shades of blue/grey.    This color bar shows the colors used to represent the sea ice surface temperature. The coldest water is shown in light blue. The warmest sea ice is shown in shades of pink. As the sea ice surface temperatures cool below -15 degrees Celsius, the color is shown in shades of purple. The sea ice surface below -28 degrees Celsius is shown in shades of blue/grey.

View the image:
   640 x 480   TIFF   1 MB



This image shows the snow cover and sea ice surface
temperature over Europe on March 12, 2003    This image shows the snow cover and sea ice surface temperature over Europe on March 12, 2003

View the image:
   2560 x1920   TIFF   11 MB


Animators: Cindy Starr
Greg Shirah
Marte Newcombe
Studio: SVS
Date Completed: September 10, 2004
Duration: 1632 frames, 54.4 seconds
Scientist: Dorothy Hall (NASA/GSFC)
Instrument: Terra/MODIS, Aqua/MODIS
Datasets: MOD10C1 - Daily Snow Cover Extent, MYD29E1D - MODIS Sea Ice Surface Temperature, SeaWiFS Monthly Land Reflectance
Keywords: Snow Cover, Sea Ice Temperature, HDTV
DLESESubject: Cryology
Data Collected: 2002/07/01 - 2003/05/31, 2000/05/01 - 2000/10/31
Animation Series: Modis Daily Snow and Sea Ice Temperature 2002-2003



Please give credit for this visualization to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Additional Credit is given to George Riggs (NASA/SSAI)


Back to Top