Arctic sea ice lowest on record for January, data centre reports
Higher average temperatures in Kara Sea, Barents Sea contribute to slow ice growth

This graph shows how Arctic sea ice extent for the month of January has declined since 1979. (NSIDC IMAGE)

This graph shows how sea ice extent has declined in the Kara Sea and Barents Sea, due to higher temperatures in those regions. (NSIDC IMAGE)
The extent of Arctic sea ice in January 2018 is the lowest on record for that time of year, exceeding the previous record set in January 2017, says new data released this week by the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The NSIDC reports that last month’s Arctic sea ice extent was more than 1.3 million square kilometres below the 1981 to 2010 average for the month of January, and about 110,000 square kilometres smaller than the sea ice extent recorded during the same period in 2017.
That works out to a 9.4 per cent drop in the monthly sea ice extent from the previous year, the agency reported on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
January began with record low daily sea ice extent, but as the month continued, those figures rebounded and ice growth continued at near-average rates, according to the NSIDC.
But that growth slipped by the end of the month, bringing the total Arctic ice extent for January below levels recorded in 2017.
That may be because average air temperatures across the Arctic Ocean were at least three degrees Celsius or more above average that month, the NSIDC said.
Extreme departures from average temperatures in the Kara and Barents Seas, near Norway’s Svalbard islands, contributed to slow sea ice growth in that area.
Warm weather—about five degrees above average—on the Pacific side of the Arctic Ocean also contributed to low sea ice around Alaska.
And fluctuating sea level pressure in the central Arctic Ocean drew more warm air from the south into the northern hemisphere, the NSIDC reported.
January’s record low levels follow a similarly low sea ice extent recorded in December, which data shows was the second lowest level on record for that month.
Since the NSIDC began collecting data in 1979, average monthly sea ice extents for January have trended downwards at an average rate of 47,000 square kilometres each year, or 3.3 per cent per decade.
Last month, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration reported that global surface temperatures were the second highest in 2017, falling below the record high temperatures set in 2016.
The five warmest years on record have all occurred since 2010.
(0) Comments