UPDATE: High speed video from 2004 to present added below.
In response to recent discussions, I’ve taken the time to download the 2.8 gb of data required to plot sea ice. I found a far better software for video creation called virtual dub. And I rescaled the graphs so that the Arctic and Antarctic are plotted on equal grid scales. The pixel resolution is 25km and the satellite ice data comes from the NSIDC Sea Ice Concentrations as collected from the Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I Passive Microwave systems. This version represents just a few years of the total dataset and is similar to my previous publicaitons. You may note the higher resolution and frame rate than my previous work. Currently, I’m compiling the complete video for publication tomorrow. The purpose of the project is to first visually see if 2009 – 2011 which is not shown here, has similar weather patterns to 2007. Also, I hope to add sea surface temperature and flow directions to the video – both of which will probably add to our understanding of the sea ice situation. If I’m lucky, there may be some stats to follow as well.
High speed September 2004 to present:
the Air Vent 
Fantastic, thank you for doing this! I was looking a few days ago at the time lapses you did about 2 years ago. Great to have this newer version, and I appreciate the equal scale.
I’ve always wondered why that bit on the bottom (in the orientation of your video map) of Antarctica closest to shore (Ross Sea) melts first before the ice farther out melts.
Wow !!
Great video.
Can’t wait to see the finished product !
@ #2 George.
Just my wild guess, but perhaps the Antarctic Circumpolar Current
Hmmmm, looking a little more about the ACC:
http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/southern/antarctic-cp.html
“The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) as represented by the Mariano Global Surface Velocity Analysis (MGSVA). The ACC is poorly represented here because of the lack of data. The MGSVA is based on ship-drift estimates of sea surface velocities that are mostly available along major shipping routes”
“lack of data”
Does that mean that the “catastrophic” ice loss is due to something we don’t completely understand??
Jeff,
Awesome visualization tool – thanks for your work.
Thanks Greg, these take forever.
Thank you, Jeff, for videos showing the real cycles of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice.
Like the rest of the benevolent great reality that surrounds and sustains us, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice seems to be alive: Always changing.
Expanding or contraction, like the vital organs of life within us and the dynamic cosmos* around us.
These videos may help myopic, self-centered world leaders return to reality.
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
*The Journal of Cosmology 13, 4187-4190 (2011)
http://journalofcosmology.com/BigBang102.html
Jeff, it is great work considering that you have a day job and no government funding !
Yeah – but Big Oil pays well (sarc)
Big Oil is greasing its own hiney for the convenience of the subsidizers.
Great great video Jeff. Well done mate.
Superb video. I really do look forward to the addition of sea temperature as that will really highlight the dynamics. The only possible addition is salinity as that effects where freezing can/will take place.