The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has released a new animation for Google Earth showing two months of daily sea ice conentrations in the Arctic, leading up to the record shattering sea ice minimum on September 16, 2007. Images are derived from the The Near Real-Time SSM/I EASE-Grid Daily Global Ice Concentration and Snow Extent (NISE) product which has been produced at NSIDC on a daily basis for the past decade.

The monthly average sea ice extents for July, August, and September are also shown to give an indication of how dramatic the retreat was this season.

The 600 KB kmz file is available from our Technical Experiments page. It is still considered "beta" while it makes it's way through our ponderous review process. Once the review process completes it will move to our Virtual Globes Homepage but I thought people might appreciate an advance look.