Arctic Melting: Arctic Ice Extent in June 2015, the Third Lowest in the Satellite Record...
ARCTIC MELTING: According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Arctic sea ice extent for June 2015 was the third lowest in the satellite record and June snow cover for the Northern Hemisphere was the second lowest on record. The linear rate of decline for the month stay at 3.6% per decade. In contrast, Antarctic sea ice extent remained higher than average.
June 2015: arctic ice extent averaged 11.0 million square kilometers, 920,000 square kilometers below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average
More in detail, Arctic sea ice extent for June 2015 averaged 11.0 million square kilometers (4.24 million square miles), the third lowest June extent in the satellite record. This is 920,000 square kilometers (355,200 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average of 11.89 million square kilometers (4.59 million square miles) and 150,000 square kilometers (58,000 square miles) above the record low for the month observed in 2010. Through 2015, the linear rate of decline for June extent is 3.6 % per decade.
Ice extent remains below average in the Barents Sea as well as in the Chukchi Sea.
Figure - Ice Extent Loss, compared to the 1981-2010 average
Source: LTEconomy on NSIDC
The latest data: What happened in August 2015
On August 16, 2015 sea ice extent stood at 5.79 million square kilometers (2.24 million square miles). This is 1.35 million square kilometers (521,200 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average, and 1.17 million square kilometers (451,700 square miles) above the level for the same date in 2012, the year of the record low extent.
In the meantime Antarctic ice extent in June remained above the 1981-2010 average…
Sea ice extent in Antarctica averaged 14.93 million square kilometers (5.76 million square miles), the third highest June extent in the satellite record. Extent was slightly greater than the 1981 to 2010 average almost everywhere around the continent. The high amount of sea ice in the eastern Weddell and Ross seas is consistent with the pattern observed for the past several months.
Source: NSIDC
LTEconomy, October 18, 2015
For more details, please see