It was meant to give a visual record of ice changes over the spring - summer - fall season. (psc.apl.washington.edu)
This affects the ability of these models to project the effects of sea - ice changes on the atmosphere, deep - ocean circulation and nutrient cycling. (pages-igbp.org)
Warming over ocean is smaller than the mean except at high latitudes, where sea ice changes have an influence. (ipcc.ch)