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Sea Ice in Melting Arctic Dwindles to Another Record Low

For the second consecutive year Arctic sea ice has reached a record-low for winter maximum extent, federal scientists reported.

BY SHEILA V KUMAR, INSIDECLIMATE NEWS
MAR 29, 2016

The amount of ice in the Arctic during the depths of winter's freeze hit record lows for the second consecutive year, escalating concerns that sea ice is melting at an alarming rate.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center announced on Monday that Arctic sea ice reached its winter ice cover maximum last Thursday with only 5.6 million square miles frozen. That's down 5,000 square miles from last year's record low, a difference the size of Connecticut. Sea ice has been on a long decline since satellites began monitoring its extent in 1979, with between 173,000 and 196,000 square miles of ice vanishing every decade since then—a loss larger than the state of California.

The below-average sea ice cover is tied to climate change and warmer temperatures afflicting the Arctic all winter. Hotspots near the North Pole and towards the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard climbed to more than 11 degrees above average between December and February.

The winter ice peak occurred later than average, meaning the ice's melting season will be shorter than normal for the upcoming spring and summer, the researchers said.

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