Arctic ice cover grows in 2010

Arctic sea ice extent for March 2010 was 15.10 million square kilometres. The magenta line shows the 1979 to 2000 median extent for that month. The black cross indicates the geographic North Pole. (IMAGE COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL SNOW AND ICE DATA CENTRE)

Arctic sea ice extent for March 2010 was 15.10 million square kilometres, the National Snow and Ice Data Centre reported April 6— close to the average ice cover reached between 1979 and 2000.

This means the maximum ice cover for this year came in 650,000 square km below the 1979 to 2000 average for March, but 670,000 sq. km. above the record low for the month, which occurred in March 2006.

Mark Serreze of the NSIDC said this past winter’s recovery doesn’t mean that global warming has stopped,

“If you look at the Arctic as a whole we might get to average amounts of sea ice for the time of year. But the ice is thin and quite vulnerable and it can melt very quickly,” he told reporters.

Early this past March, Arctic sea ice appeared to reach its maximum.

However, after a short decline, the ice then continued to grow.

The late-season growth was driven mainly by cold weather and winds from the north over the Bering and Barents seas, says the NISDC.

Meanwhile, temperatures over the central Arctic Ocean remained above normal and the winter ice cover remained young and thin compared to earlier years.

Ice extent was above normal in the Bering Sea and Baltic Sea, but remained below normal over much of the Arctic, including Baffin Bay.