Arctic sea ice summer minimum in 2019 is ‘joint-second lowest’ on record

Oct 3, 2019

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, in the midst of their ICESCAPE mission, retrieves supplies for some mid-mission fixes dropped by parachute from a C-130 in the Arctic Ocean in this July 12, 2011 NASA handout photo obtained by Reuters June 11, 2011. Scientists punched through the sea ice to find waters richer in phytoplankton than any other region on earth. Phytoplankton, the base component of the marine food chain, were thought to grow in the Arctic Ocean only after sea ice had retreated for the summer. Scientists now think that the thinning Arctic ice is allowing sunlight to reach the waters under the sea ice, catalyzing the plant blooms where they had never been observed. REUTERS/Kathryn Hansen/NASA (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - TM3E86B0WCN01

2019 is tied with 2007 and 2016. Image: REUTERS/Kathryn Hansen

Robert McSweeney

Science Editor, Carbon Brief

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Arctic sea ice extent on 18 September 2019 (white shading). The orange line shows the 1981-2010 average extent for that day. Image: NSIDC

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Antarctica is losing sea-ice at record levels. It's time to pay attention

Arctic sea ice extent on 18 September 2019 (blue line), along with daily ice extent data for 2016 (brown), 2007 (light brown) and the record low of 2012 (dotted pink). The 1981-2010 median is in dark grey. The grey areas around the median line show the interquartile and interdecile ranges. Image: NSIDC

Daily Arctic sea ice extent from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Average sea ice extents from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010-2018 are shown by dashed lines. Yearly minimum extents (2002-2019) are shown by the scatter points with colour in reference to the magnitude. 2019 is shown in red and 2012 in white. Plot shows data up and including 23/09/2019. Image: Zack Labe

Animation shows daily Arctic sea ice extents for 2019 (red), 2018 (yellow), 2012 (white) and 2007 (brown), 2012. The decadal averages are also included for the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Plot shows data up and including 23/09/2019. Image: Zack Labe

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