Antarctica Sea Ice Coverage 1978-2023
Channel: Australian Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-NRI)
Date: 2024-03-07

The visualisation shows Antarctic sea-ice coverage pulsing between winter and summer over the 45 years since satellite records began in 1978. It uses data from satellites collected by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC).
The visualisation was created by a collaboration between Dr Ed Doddridge, from the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP) and Owen Kaluza from the Australian Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-NRI) Model Evaluation and Diagnostics team (MED).
This visualisation is an amazing tool to explain how the ocean currents are driven by the annual cycle of sea ice, as each year’s growth and contraction pumps huge quantities of cold salty water into the ocean.
This visualisation is a collaboration between the Australian Antarctic Project Partnership (AAPP) and the Australian Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-NRI) and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), using data from satellites run by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC).
ACCESS-NRI and TERN are enabled by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS)

CREDITS 
Animation: Owen Kaluza - ACCESS-NRI 
Presenter: Dr Edward Doddridge, AAPP 
Video Editing: Nicolas Rakotopare, TERN
Video narration shot: Pete Harmsen 
Communication content: Mark Horstman (AAPP) and Natalia Bateman (ACCESS-NRI)

Sea ice data:
National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder
NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 4 https://nsidc.org/data/g02202/versions/4
Near-Real-Time NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 2 https://nsidc.org/data/g10016/versions/2

Other assets (public domain and/or creative commons):
Relief colour maps https://www.shadedrelief.com/
Topography and Bathymetry: NASA https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/
Ocean wave texture: https://www.manytextures.com/texture/23/sea-water/
Archival photos: Royal Library of Belgium KBR 
Map: Georges Lecointe, , Belgica voyage 1903