Arctic Sea Ice Extent Could Fall to 3M Km²

UPDATED September 4, 2012 @ 01:44UTC

Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Cover Shrinking Rapidly

Arctic sea ice extent shrank to about 3.65 million square kilometers (1.41 million square miles) on September 2, 2012, FIRE-EARTH estimates.

FEWW model shows the Arctic sea ice extent could fall to about 3 million km² (1.15 million square miles) during the 2012 melt season with a probability of 0.5 [P = 54%]

Arctic sea ice extent as of September 1, 2012.  Image Source: NSIDC

Arctic sea ice extent, September 1, 2012. FIRE-EARTH estimates the NH ice cover fell below 3.65 million km² (1.41 million square miles) on September 2, 2012.  Image Source: NSIDC

Arctic Sea Ice Cover:  Denmark’s Center for Ocean and Ice (DMI)

Original caption:  Current Sea Ice extent. Total sea ice extent on the northern hemisphere since 2005. The ice extent values are calculated from the ice type data from the Ocean and Sea Ice, Satellite Application Facility (OSISAF), where areas with ice concentration higher than 30% are classified as ice.        The total area of sea ice is the sum of First Year Ice (FYI), Multi Year Ice (MYI) and the area of ambiguous ice types, from the OSISAF ice type product. However, the total estimated ice area is underestimated due to unclassified coastal regions where mixed land/sea pixels confuse the applied ice type algorithm. The shown sea ice extent values are therefore recommended be used qualitatively in relation to ice extent values from other years shown in the figure.

Related Links

• Arctic Sea Ice Extent Down to 3.87M km² and Melting Posted August 31, 2012

• Arctic Sea Ice Extent Breaks Record Low and Melting Posted August 28, 2012
• Arctic Sea Ice Extent Rapidly Decreasing Posted August 21, 2012

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