TheNational Snow and Ice Data Centerhas just released the event of its latest psychoanalysis of Arctic sea ice . Surprise — the forecast is not good . The maximum extent of Arctic sea ice occurred betimes this twelvemonth , and , at 5.61 million straight Roman mile , was the small in four decades .
The map above shows the Arctic sea ice extent at its peak this year on February 25th , with extent specify as the total orbit in which the meth tightness is at least 15 % . For compare , the satellite image below was captured on March 14th , 1983 . Comparison with 1983 gives scientists an theme of how conditions this year stray from the long - term average of 5.96 million substantial miles for the 1979—2000 period . ( Note that the area inside the white circle is a data gap triggered by how satellites fly closely to , but not directly over , the compass north pole . )
According to NASA :
Arctic sea ice — fixed saltwater float on top of the Arctic Ocean and its neighboring seas — is constantly deepen . It grows in the fall and winter , get through its uttermost between late February and other April . It shrinks in the fountain and summertime until it reaches its minimum extent in September . The preceding three decades have seen adownward style in ocean ice extentduring both the raise and melting season , though the decline has been outrageous in the melt season .
This yr ’s maximum was give 15 days sooner than the 1981 to 2010 median escort of March 12 . Ice condition have been below average everywhere except in the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait . A belated spurt of deoxyephedrine ontogeny is possible , but it is unlikely now that give sun is arriving in the Arctic Circle .
If the utmost stay at 14.54 million straight kilometre , it would be about 130,000 hearty kilometers below the previous lowest peak ( set in 2011 ) .
Areas that come along to have live the most substantial ice departure include the Siberian coastline and the Bering Straight , between Alaska and Russia . If you really like geeking out over this stuff , NASA has created ahandy comparison toolthat allows you to scroll back and off between the two ocean chicken feed images shown above and observe our planet ’s cryosphere modification in a blink . [ NASA Earth Observatory ]
For daily skill geekery , stick with Maddie Stoneon Twitter .
Climate changecryospheremapsNASASatelliteScience
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