File:Beaufort Sea Thaw (MODIS 2021-05-24).jpg

English: Each spring, as hours of sunlight increase and temperatures rise, the expansive pack of sea ice that coats the Beaufort Sea during winter begins to melt. The maximum extent of Arctic sea ice usually occurs in mid-March and sea ice minimum typically is reached across the Arctic shortly after the end of summer, as sunlight shortens and temperatures drop.

The Beaufort Sea is a part of the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Northern Territories and the Yukon, Canada and the state of Alaska, the United States. It is also one part of the storied “Northwest Passage”—a complex, winding maze of sounds, channels, bays, and straits that (during part of the year) permit ship traffic to travel between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Artic Ocean. Ice typically begins to break up in the Beaufort Sea in mid-May, with open water first appearing near the shoreline.

On May 20, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of open water in the Beaufort Sea north of Northern Territories, Canada. Thanks to the NASA Worldview app, we can easily compare two images acquired nearly a month apart to visualize the changes in the area over time. On April 24, the same area was covered in floating sea ice. To compare the two images, click here.