Daily Sea Ice Extent


       Click data point on chart to update map below.

Page Overview & Data Sources

  • This page shows northern and southern hemisphere daily sea-ice extent timeseries and concentration maps estimated from satellite data onward from late 1978. The timeseries source is the Sea Ice Index developed by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Each daily value represents a 5-day mean to smooth noise in the satellite data. The sea-ice concentration maps are generated from 0.5°x0.5° analysis fields from the NCEP Climate Forecast System. Click the cursor on a timeseries data value to update the corresponding map. NSIDC maintains a web interface for the Sea Ice Index here.

  • Data and maps on this page are updated daily with a one-day lag from observations.

  • The sea ice concentration maps also can be animated on the Daily Reanalysis Maps page.

  • NCAR Command Language is used for data processing and map generation. The interactive time series chart is made using HighCharts.