The Arctic is Melting

The rate of global warming in the Arctic is about twice as fast as the global average. You can see how this global heating is affecting sea ice extent on this impressive map visualization from Aftenposten. The article accompanying the map is in Norwegian but you don't need to speak Norwegian to appreciate the impressive interactive map.

As you scroll through The Arctic is Melting a map of the Arctic visualizes the level of sea ice extent over time for every year since 1985. The purple colored areas on the map show the thin ice that melts in summer. The white ice shows the thicker perennial ice, which has visibly shrunk in just the last decade. In recent years the ice in the Arctic has become younger and thinner. This means that the ice melts faster and earlier every year.

You can view many other mapped visualizations of the loss of sea ice in the Arctic on the Maps Mania Arctic tag.