Cool Science                         International Polar Year Begins 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Arctic Sea Ice These two views of the Arctic show a shrinking of perennial sea ice, seen in white. The ice, which normally survives the summer melt season and remains year-round, shrunk abruptly by 14 percent between 2004 and 2005. These changes have significant implications for the Arctic environment, navigation and resource exploration. The data was provided by NASA's QuikScat satellite. + Full story     Jet Propulsion Laboratory    California Institute of Technology