Nasa map of Earth's seasons over 20 years highlights climate change (video)

The visualization shows spring coming earlier and the Arctic ice caps receding over time

Nasa has captured 20 years of changing seasons in a striking new global map of planet Earth​.

The data visualization, released this week, shows Earth’s fluctuations as seen from space.

The polar ice caps and snow cover are shown ebbing and flowing with the seasons. The varying ocean shades of blue, green, red and purple depict the abundance – or lack – of undersea life.

“It’s like watching the Earth breathe. It’s really remarkable,” said Nasa oceanographer Jeremy Werdell, who took part in the project.

Two decades – from September 1997 to this past September – are crunched into two and a half minutes of viewing.