Exploring Arctic Climate Change with NSIDC Data Walt Meier Research Scientist Climate Literacy & Energy Awareness Network June 8, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado

National Snow and Ice Data Center Part of the University of Colorado at Boulder NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) NASA archive center for cryospheric data Funding and responsibilities  ~75% data management o ~75 TB of data total, ~15 TB/year  ~25% research Main sponsors:

The Cryosphere Snow and ice spans the globe, from the equator to the poles. The cryosphere is found in over 100 countries Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) Cryosphere Theme Report Countries affected by the cryosphere

Change in the cryosphere: -11.5% per decade Average 2007: 39% below average 2008: 34% below average 2009: 24% below average 2010: 30% below average NSIDC Sea Ice Index, Summer Arctic sea ice extent is declining

Resources: NSIDC:  Data on Google Earth:  Education Center: o “All About” pages, “State of the Cryosphere”  Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis:  “Icelights”: o Companion to news page – more in depth info on topical sea ice issues  Sea Ice Index:  Atlas of the Cryosphere: Selected other sites:  “Whither Arctic Sea Ice?” EET Chapter:  “Windows on the Universe” Sea Ice:  A Tour of the Cryosphere, NASA Scientific Visualization Studio:  NOAA Arctic Theme Page:  Snowtweets:

NSIDC data on Google Earth Sea ice  Animation and static images Snow Permafrost Glaciers Glacier pair photos New: Climate Change Tour of Cold Places – narrated tour of snow and ice

NSIDC Education Center Background info on:  Sea ice  Glaciers  Snow  Frozen ground  Arctic climate

NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis Track Arctic sea ice daily Monthly interpretation of conditions More frequent posts during summer

NSIDC “Icelights” Highlight current sea ice research Address common questions

NSIDC Sea Ice Index Daily/month images and data  Extent  Concentration  Anomalies Compare and animate images Total extent text values since

NSIDC resources Atlas of the Cryosphere, WMS, OCG compliant web map server Several Arctic (static) layers – sea ice snow, permafrost, snow, geographic locations

Whither Arctic Sea Ice? Using Sea Ice Data in the Classroom AccessData Earth Exploration Toolbook chapter Developed by: Walt Meier National Snow and Ice Data Center, Univ. Colorado Coop. Inst. for Research in Environmental Sciences Betsy Youngman Phoenix Country Day School Mark McCaffrey Coop. Inst. for Research in Environmental Sciences Anupma Prakash Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks Brian Rogan Boston Museum of Science

An Arctic in Transformation Whither Arctic Sea Ice? Using Sea Ice Data in the Classroom Use satellite data of sea ice to analyze trends and variability, 1979-present Case studies for various regions Impacts on people/wildlife Hudson Bay developed, others possible Imagery and animations for qualitative analysis Quantitative data for more involved analysis Uses ImageJ (freeware) for data/image analysis and processing MS Excel or other spreadsheet for further data analysis

Windows on the Universe Same data as Whither Arctic Sea Ice Similar method, but more basic

NASA “A Tour of the Cryosphere” Video podcast NASA data of the cryosphere Updated in 2009

NOAA Resources on Arctic climate NOAA Arctic Change,

SnowTweets Project R. Kelly, Univ. Waterloo,