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Arctic sea ice extent 
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Wed Dec 14, 2011 at 10:36:46 AM MST
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I haven't written about polar ice conditions for a few months due to lack of time thanks to school. Hopefully my time availability moving forward will be high enough to keep this series going.
The state of global polar sea ice area in early December 2011 has temporarily returned to near climatologically normal conditions (1979-2009). Arctic sea ice has recovered very quickly after starting the freeze season slowly and Antarctic sea ice is benefiting from weather conditions preventing extensive melt at the edges in much the same way as it did last year at the same time. Since my last post (covering August conditions), polar sea ice has generally recovered from an extensive deficit of negative 2 million sq. km. The long time that sea ice area spent near this dramatic condition is unprecedented in the modern era. Poor conditions established this development across the Arctic this year.
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Tue Jun 07, 2011 at 12:48:52 PM MST
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[Note: This post first appeared yesterday in partial form. This is the full post. My apologies.]
The state of global polar sea ice area at the beginning of June 2011 remains poor: well below climatological conditions (1979-2009) continue to persist.
Sea ice in the Arctic continues to track significantly below average, with the 3rd lowest readings for the month in the modern era. Antarctic sea ice recovered somewhat more quickly to normal conditions than was the case the month before. Global sea ice area has therefore remained near historical lows for an extended period of time this year. Within the last month, global sea ice area has finally improved from the 1 million sq. km. deficit from climatological conditions that characterized the first four months of 2011. To help put this in context, only 2006 and 2007 saw similar conditions. In 2007, the Arctic (and global) sea ice area fell to its lowest extent in modern history.
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Thu Jan 13, 2011 at 15:55:28 PM MST
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The state of global polar sea ice area at the beginning of 2011 continues the trend present throughout most of 2010: well below climatological conditions (1979-2009). Sea ice in the Arctic continues to track far below average while Antarctic sea ice has tracked closer to average from above average the past couple of months. Overall, the rate at which Arctic sea ice is refreezing and Antarctic ice is melting is not out of the ordinary. The locations where freezing and melting is occurring is once again news this month. Global sea ice is rapidly decreasing, as is normal for this time of year due to Antarctic environmental conditions. The value of global sea ice area has already fallen below the average level of 16 million sq. km. The yearly absolute minimum should occur within the next month or so, at which time we'll be able to determine whether 2011's minimum is more like 2005, 2009 and 2010 (~15 million sq. km.) or whether 2011's minimum is more like 2006 and 2007 (~14.5 million sq. km.).
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Wed Oct 20, 2010 at 15:49:58 PM MST
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(I know it's a couple weeks later than October 4th. The details are relevant as of that date or earlier. Hopefully next month's will be "on time". - promoted by WeatherDem)
The state of global polar sea ice at the beginning of October 2010 was once again very poor compared to climatological conditions (1979-2008). The Arctic ice extent was far, far below average for this time of year. The Antarctic sea ice extent wass above average, but not nearly so much as was the case in the Arctic. Unfortunately, global sea ice extent fell to ~17.5 million sq. km., something that has happened in only 2 previous Septembers: in 2007 and 2008. The Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route are largely free of ice, allowing the Arctic Ocean to potentially be circumnavigated.
This post will mostly concentrate on the extremely poor conditions found in the Arctic this fall. Antarctic conditions are not as extreme, largely and ironically thanks to the ozone hole over the continent which has kept stratospheric temperatures much cooler than they otherwise would be. Eventually, our forcing leading to global warming will overwhelm the ozone hole cooling effect (and the ozone hole will gradually be "healed" anyway), which will cause long-term changes to Antarctica just like the Arctic.
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Wed Oct 20, 2010 at 15:49:35 PM MST
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The state of global polar sea ice at the beginning of October 2010 was once again very poor compared to climatological conditions (1979-2008). The Arctic ice extent was far, far below average for this time of year. The Antarctic sea ice extent wass above average, but not nearly so much as was the case in the Arctic. Unfortunately, global sea ice extent fell to ~17.5 million sq. km., something that has happened in only 2 previous Septembers: in 2007 and 2008. The Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route are largely free of ice, allowing the Arctic Ocean to potentially be circumnavigated.
This post will mostly concentrate on the extremely poor conditions found in the Arctic this fall. Antarctic conditions are not as extreme, largely and ironically thanks to the ozone hole over the continent which has kept stratospheric temperatures much cooler than they otherwise would be. Eventually, our forcing leading to global warming will overwhelm the ozone hole cooling effect (and the ozone hole will gradually be "healed" anyway), which will cause long-term changes to Antarctica just like the Arctic.
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Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 10:07:29 AM MST
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I didn't issue this earlier this month because I was waiting for the NSIDC monthly report, which was issued during a well-deserved vacation. I had originally written most of it to reflect conditions in early June, but apparently forgot to download the necessary graphics to complete the post. As such, I'm updating some of it for conditions through yesterday, which have only grown worse in the Arctic region. I'll issue a similar post in early July to get back on my regular schedule.
The state of polar sea ice in mid-June 2010 is fairly good compared to climatological conditions (1979-2000). The Antarctic sea ice extent is rebounding very nicely from its Southern Hemispheric fall minimum. It has passed the climatological median and is approaching the +2 standard deviation (there is much more ice than is normal for this time of year). The Arctic sea ice extent is a different story altogether, however. Conditions there are the worst on record for June, beating out years such as 2006 and 2007 for record low extent in recent days, as this time series shows.
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Wed May 05, 2010 at 15:41:46 PM MST
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The state of polar sea ice in March 2010 is fairly good compared to climatological conditions (1979-2000), which strongly contrasts with the past few months when global conditions were below climatology. As it has done this time of year for a few years in a row, the global sea ice extent increased to the point where it is near climatological values, as this graph demonstrates. The anomalies observed in 2006 and 2007 become more obvious each time the globe's sea ice increases in Mar/Apr.
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