Sky & Ice
The closer I examine U. Bremen sea ice concentration datamaps [ASI (from AMSR2) ver. 5.4, Grid 6.25 km], the more I find to appreciate. The depth of information compiled in their visual renditions is amazing -- particularly when compared sequentially. But -- what is it with these people? -- someone over there decided it would also be informative to make their datamap renditions beautiful, of all things! A humble artist stands at risk of falling in love.
I've heard the question raised: What are you-all trying to prove with these animations? Perfectly sensible question, I think, from busy people with no time for any of that touchy-feely nonsense. I can't speak for anyone else but myself. The nature of my work is more a question than a statement. The sky & ice relate to each other in so many complex ways -- can sequential imagery bring to light any interesting details of that relationship?
For me it can, but U. Bremen's naturalistic-looking approach constrains me, as I figure out how much sky to show with this ice (I know it's concentration data, but it sure looks like ice). Cognitively, we're simply incapable of comprehending two unrelated things simultaneously. (Try counting to ten: English number-names for even, German for odd. No, I mean out loud, and faster. See?) There's so much happening in the atmosphere every three hours (as reported by Nullschool). If I don't want to graphically blast U. Bremen's gorgeous work to smithereens with incomprehensible noise, I can only pick a few key details.
I've settled on the depiction above for both the hindcast-forecast and for the monthly look-back I'm working on. Taking it to the hindcast-forecast necessitated a second (usually redundant) date-stamp pertaining only to the once-a-day AMSR2 image (so that the date-stamp is always accurate for the AMSR2 datamap displayed).
As part of production, I wind up compiling unadorned AMSR2 monthly sequences. Below is August 2019.