passionate about weather
The Arctic sea ice extent on the 11th of February was the highest for that date since 2015. The total had climbed to within two standard deviations of average and was only 3.8% below the 1988-2016 LTA for that date, which is quite remarkable given that it started from the second lowest minimum on record back in September,
Mean temperatures across Russia have continued to be well above average so far this January as they were in December.
Having said that the sea extent is almost 14% lower than the LTA with a massive gap in the Weddell sea and large hole in the Ross sea.
Latest sea ice estimates from the NSIDC
Antarctic sea ice maximum reached on the 30th of September as loose tooth drops out
Arctic sea ice bottoms out leaving it the second lowest minima since 1979
The Arctic sea ice has gain proved far more resilient than forecast and has refused to produce a record low minimum in 2019.
A graph of the changes in daily sea ice extent.
The big question is will the Arctic sea extent slide away like it did in the summer of 2012 or take a shallower trajectory?
Arctic sea ice extent is second lowest behind 2016 for early June, but 2012 is the year to watch.
I have always thought that following sea ice extent using daily SII values from the NSIDC was not a good idea. Even following weekly, monthly or seasonal extremes didn’t seem to simplify the ‘noise’ that you got with line graph or bar chart. That’s why in my opinion a graph of moving 365 day average sea ice extents is ideal at looking at the long term trend in the last 30 years. The Arctic has most people must now realise has seen a steady decline since 1990, although in the last year the 365 day average has recovered somewhat, although...
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