Arctic sea-ice concentration

This animation shows the concentration of sea ice in the Arctic from 1979 until 2016, based on a dataset generated by ESA’s Climate Change Initiative Sea Ice project. The amount of sea ice floating in the Arctic Ocean varies enormously as it grows and shrinks with the seasons. Although some of the older thicker ice remains throughout, there is an undeniable trend of declining ice as climate change tightens its grip on this fragile polar region.