Temporal Coverage: 24 February 2000 - present (Terra); 3 July 2002 - present (Aqua)
The MODIS Sea Ice extent layer shows the presence of sea ice. Ice forms in the sea when air and sea temperatures are consistently cold. Some areas of the sea in the world are consistently covered in sea ice and the sea ice even builds up to form multi year ice packs, some areas only form sea ice in the winter. The presence of sea ice changes the normally dark blue ocean into solid white ice. This has an effect on the weather and earth’s climate. Sunlight that would normally be absorbed by the dark blue ocean is now reflected back by the ice, increasing the surface albedo. Sea ice regulates the amount of heat that escapes the ocean surface to warm the atmosphere. For near real-time applications, MODIS Sea Ice layer is useful for assessing the presence of sea ice in the ocean and other large water bodies. The presence of sea ice prohibits the passage of ships through the waters and an ice breaker vessel may be required to break up the ice before a ship may pass.
The MODIS Sea Ice product is available from both the Terra (MOD29) and Aqua (MYD29) satellites. The sensor and imagery resolution is 1 km, and the temporal resolution is daily.
References: NSIDC - MOD29; NSIDC - MYD29; NASA Earth Observations - Sea Ice and Snow Extent
Temporal Coverage: 24 February 2000 - present (Terra); 4 July 2002 - present (Aqua)