Images
April 30, 2026 - Spring in the Arctic
Tweet
Each winter, extremely frigid weather prompts the growth of sea ice in the Arctic, with maximum sea ice extent reached near the middle of March. As long, sunny summer days drive air and sea temperatures higher, Arctic ice begins to melt. Sea ice minimum (lowest measurement of the year) often occurs in mid-September, before increasingly cold temperatures begin the freeze/melt cycle once again.
On March 15, 2026, Arctic sea ice extent reached its maximum extent—and tied the lowest maximum observed since satellite monitoring began in 1979. According to a March 29 story published by NASA’s Earth Observatory, “On March 15, Arctic sea ice extent reached 5.52 million square miles (14.29 million square kilometers), very close to the 2025 peak of 5.53 million square miles (14.31 million square kilometers).” Scientists with NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, note that, despite a small difference, the two years are statistically tied.
The Earth Observatory article, which can be read here, also points out that researchers are observing not only a low maximum extent, but also changes in thickness of Ice in the Arctic. Nathan Kurtz, Chief of the Cryospheric Science Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland was quoted as saying, “Based on what we’re seeing with NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite, much of the ice in the Arctic is thinner this year, especially in the Barents Sea northeast of Greenland. The Sea of Okhotsk that borders northern Japan and Russia also had relatively low ice this year — a region that naturally experiences significant year-to-year variability.”
On April 28, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of a sunny spring day in the Arctic. Most of the central Arctic Ocean remains covered with ice, while broad areas surrounding the solid-appearing center show thin floating ice with patches of ocean showing through. Patchy white swirls and lines appear to be clouds overtopping smoother white ice.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 4/28/2026
Resolutions:
1km (6.3 MB), 500m ( B),
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Each winter, extremely frigid weather prompts the growth of sea ice in the Arctic, with maximum sea ice extent reached near the middle of March. As long, sunny summer days drive air and sea temperatures higher, Arctic ice begins to melt. Sea ice minimum (lowest measurement of the year) often occurs in mid-September, before increasingly cold temperatures begin the freeze/melt cycle once again.
On March 15, 2026, Arctic sea ice extent reached its maximum extent—and tied the lowest maximum observed since satellite monitoring began in 1979. According to a March 29 story published by NASA’s Earth Observatory, “On March 15, Arctic sea ice extent reached 5.52 million square miles (14.29 million square kilometers), very close to the 2025 peak of 5.53 million square miles (14.31 million square kilometers).” Scientists with NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, note that, despite a small difference, the two years are statistically tied.
The Earth Observatory article, which can be read here, also points out that researchers are observing not only a low maximum extent, but also changes in thickness of Ice in the Arctic. Nathan Kurtz, Chief of the Cryospheric Science Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland was quoted as saying, “Based on what we’re seeing with NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite, much of the ice in the Arctic is thinner this year, especially in the Barents Sea northeast of Greenland. The Sea of Okhotsk that borders northern Japan and Russia also had relatively low ice this year — a region that naturally experiences significant year-to-year variability.”
On April 28, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of a sunny spring day in the Arctic. Most of the central Arctic Ocean remains covered with ice, while broad areas surrounding the solid-appearing center show thin floating ice with patches of ocean showing through. Patchy white swirls and lines appear to be clouds overtopping smoother white ice.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 4/28/2026
Resolutions:
1km (6.3 MB), 500m ( B),
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
