PLEA Network

27 September 2018, NOAA, 2018 Arctic sea ice minimum continues longer trend. Arctic sea ice has probably reached its annual minimum for 2018, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Sea ice extent dipped to 1.77 million square miles (4.59 million square kilometers) on September 19, and again on September 23. After that, ice extent began to rise, signaling an end to the summer melt season. The 2018 minimum was nowhere near the record-low extent of 1.31 million square miles (3.39 million square kilometers) recorded on September 17, 2012, but it was nowhere near the 1981–2010 average, either. It was tied with 2008 and 2010 for the sixth-lowest extent in the nearly 40-year satellite record. The 12 lowest Arctic sea ice minimums have all occurred in the last 12 years. Read more here