Annual Arctic Sea Ice Coverage Sixth-Lowest Ever Recorded

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
2014 Arctic sea ice coverage is the sixth lowest recorded since 1978, researchers from the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado, Boulder revealed on Monday.
The region’s sea ice, which declined to its annual minimum on September 17, melted back from its maximum extent in March to a coverage area of 1.94 million square miles (5.02 million square kilometers). This year’s minimum was similar to last year’s and below the 1981-2010 average of 2.40 million square miles (6.22 million square km).
“The summer started off relatively cool, and lacked the big storms or persistent winds that can break up ice and increase melting,” Walter Meier, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in a statement. “Even with a relatively cool year, the ice is so much thinner than it used to be. It’s more susceptible to melting.”
During the summer, the Northwest Passage above Canada and Alaska remained ice-bound while a sliver of open water reaching beyond 85 degrees north latitude in the Laptev Sea near Siberia marked the farthest north open ocean had reached in over three decades, Meier and his research colleagues reported.
While more of the Arctic has been covered in ice over the past two years since 2012’s record low summer, the researchers are quick to point out that this is not an indication the region’s conditions are returning to normal. This year’s minimum extent remains in line with a downward trend, Meier said.
Overall, the Arctic Ocean is losing about 13 percent of its sea ice per decade. Extent measurements include areas that are at least 15 percent ice-covered, and the NASA-developed computer analysis used in the NSIDC report are based on data provided by NASA’s Nimbus 7 satellite (which was operational between 1978 and 1987) and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (which has been active since 1987).
The NSIDC emphasized that all Arctic sea ice extent figures were “preliminary,” and that “changing winds could still push the ice extent lower.” The organization said that it would issue a formal announcement in early October that would provide a complete analysis of “the possible causes behind this year’s ice conditions, particularly interesting aspects of the melt season, the set up going into the winter growth season ahead, and graphics comparing this year to the long-term record.”
[ Watch the Video: Arctic Sea Ice, Summer 2014 ]
Sea ice observations conducted from space using satellites are just one of the methods used by NASA and the NSIDC to track changes in the Arctic region and the impact it has on climate, the US space agency said. For the past several years, it has also used Operation IceBridge flights to measure Arctic sea ice and ice sheets during the spring, and this month marked the launch of the new Arctic Radiation – IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE) field experiment.
ARISE analyzes the relationship between retreating sea ice and the Arctic climate, while NASA said that “Earth’s vital signs” are regularly monitored using a fleet of satellites, airborne equipment and ground-based observatories. The goal is to combine long-term data and computer analysis tools “to better see how our planet is changing,” the agency added, and the information is shared with various institutions both in the US and all over the world.