Arctic sea ice continues to decline at a near-average pace, with ice extent twelfth lowest in the satellite record at this time. Antarctic sea ice by contrast is growing at far below-average rates and is at an unprecedently low level for this time of year relative to the 45-year data set.
During the first half of July, the Arctic sea ice extent declined at a near-average pace of 81,800 square kilometres per day, just below the 1981 to 2010 average of 86,200 square kilometres per day. As of this post, sea ice in the Arctic is about 1.31 million square kilometres below the 1981 to 2010 reference period, and ice extent for July 17 is the twelfth lowest in the 45-year satellite record.
However, several regions have far below average extent, which according to the satellite data became ice-free quite early this year, the Kara Sea, and the Beaufort Sea.
Sea ice extent and concentration from the higher-resolution Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 data processed by the University of Bremen shows a large opening in the East Siberian Sea as well as several smaller openings within the pack further north of the polynya, and areas of low concentration in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska.
A large polynya has also formed in the Kara Sea near Severnaya Zemlya. To date since June 1, 3.82 million square kilometres of ice have melted.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished
