Environment

NASA Cryosphere Tour: Frozen Regions from Space 2002 to 2009

by Scott Wu | September 3, 2009 at 11:12 am

157 views | 10 Recommendations | 1 comment

NASA used a combination of satellite images and advanced computer animation technology to create a virtual tour of Earth's frozen regions from space. The project started back in 2002, and NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) has started updating the film since 7 months ago.

The tour started in Antarctica, showing the ice caps and effects of rising temperature. It also shows the trend of decreasing arctic ice.

Effects of climate change could be observed from the space in every corner of the world.

As the updated film takes viewers northward from Antarctica, the film treats viewers to the precise locations of glaciers scattered along the Andes Mountains in South America. The locations literally pop as the film continues its grand tour toward the planet’s northern climes.

After a quick tour of snowfall in the American West and its impact on vegetation in 2002 and 2003, the film moves across Canada and Alaska to show more recent satellite data of annual snow and ice overlaying these regions. From there, viewers travel to Earth's North Pole where they see the monthly average concentration of Arctic sea ice in 2009.