Vegetation, snow cover, and sea ice distribution varies over years

Vegetation greenness, snow cover, and sea ice distribution in early June varies widely across the Arctic, and between years.  In the high northern latitudes, snow melt and vegetation green-up typically occur in late May and early June, however, as illustrated in the animation, spring sometimes arrives much earlier than average, and sometimes much later.  Sea ice extent during early June is also shown with color-shades to indicate when the surface began to melt: white=still frozen, cyan=melt beginning, and lavender=melt started prior to June 1.