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Arctic sea ice probably reached its minimum extent for the year on September 19 and 23, 2018, according to researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and NASA.
Scientists follow the sea ice in the Arctic, which grows at its peak in winter and shrinks in summer to its minimum in September of each year. The minimum extent of pack ice this year – the smallest ice zone of the year – has reached 1.77 million square miles (4.59 million square kilometers). It was tied with 2008 and 2010 as the sixth minimum minimum of sea ice since the beginning of homogeneous satellite recordings 40 years ago.
NSIDC researchers noted that the estimate is preliminary and that it is still possible (but unlikely) that changing winds may reduce the extent of ice.
Image via NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
According to the NASA Earth Observatory:
Arctic sea ice follows seasonal patterns of growth and decomposition. It thickens and spreads in the fall and winter and refines and contracts in the spring and summer. However, in recent decades, rising temperatures have resulted in a significant decrease in sea ice extent in summer and winter. The decline in Arctic ice cover will ultimately affect the weather conditions of the planet and the circulation of the oceans.
The map above shows the extent of Arctic sea ice measured on 19 September 2018. Extent is the total area in which the ice concentration is at least 15%. The yellow outline shows the median extent of sea ice in September from 1981 to 2010. Image via NASA.
Claire Parkinson is a senior scientist on climate change at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She said in a statement:
This year's minimum is relatively high compared to the record level reached in 2012, but it remains low compared to what it was in the 1970s, 1980s and even in the 1990s.
Final Outcome: On September 19 and 23, 2018, the extent of sea ice in the Arctic fell to 4.59 million square kilometers (1.77 million square miles), on par with the 6th lowest minimum of the satellite record.
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