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National Snow and Ice Data Center 
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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Wed Apr 07, 2010 at 16:51:47 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 March. The most recent data show that global sea ice covers ~15.25 million sq. km., compared to 15.75 million sq. km. normally.
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