This 40-second animation shows the annual Arctic sea ice minimum area from 1979 to 2012, with a graph overlay. The 2012 Arctic minimum, reported on Sept. 19, was 1.32 million square miles (3.41 million square kilometers) -- the smallest in the satellite record.

Early in the month of August, 2012, storms in the Arctic affected the motion of the sea ice north of Siberia and Alaska. This animation shows the motion of the winds over the Arctic in conjunction with seasonal melting of the Arctic sea ice from August 1 through September 13, 2012, when the NASA scientists determined that the sea ice reached its annual minimum extent. The surface winds, shown my moving arrows, are colored by the velocity. Slower winds are shown in blue, medium in green and the fast winds are shown in red.

This graph and animation illustrates the change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures. (From NASA GISS)

This time series shows the progression of changing global surface temperatures from 1884 to 2011. (From NASA Goddard SVS)

The chart on the right shows monthly CO₂ levels in recent years, corrected for average seasonal cycles, as measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii. (From NOAA)

NASA's Eyes on the Earth is a full-screen, real-time visualization of NASA Earth science satellites and climate datasets.