Photo: Record low sea ice in the Chukchi sea

See that big blue tongue just north of Alaska? That’s the Chukchi Sea and usually it’s covered in sea ice this time of year. The orange-yellow line that attaches Russia and Alaska shows the average ice extent over the past 30 years. The National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, which issues daily images of sea ice growth and retreat in the Arctic and Antarctic, reported record low sea ice in that area for November and it continues to be low in December as well. Other patches of sea ice remain low for this time of year, including the Hudson and Ungava coasts of Nunavik. Western Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait appear to contain close to average amounts of sea ice on the day this image was compiled, Dec. 7. (NSDIC IMAGE)