NASA: Arctic Sea Ice 2nd-Lowest On Record (earthsky.org)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from EarthSky: NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said on September 15, 2016 that summertime Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its annual minimum on September 10. With fall approaching and temperatures in the Arctic dropping, it's unlikely more ice will melt, and so the 2016 Arctic sea ice minimum extent will likely be tied with 2007 for the second-lowest yearly minimum in the satellite record. Satellite data showed this year's minimum at 1.60 million square miles (4.14 million square km). NASA said in a statement: "Since satellites began monitoring sea ice in 1978, researchers have observed a steep decline in the average extent of Arctic sea ice for every month of the year [...] The sea ice cover of the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas helps regulate the planet's temperature, influences the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean, and impacts Arctic communities and ecosystems. Arctic sea ice shrinks every year during the spring and summer until it reaches its minimum yearly extent. Sea ice regrows during the frigid fall and winter months, when the sun is below the horizon in the Arctic." The NASA/NSIDC statement explained why the melt of Arctic sea ice surprised scientists in 2016. For one thing, it changed pace several times: "The melt season began with a record low yearly maximum extent in March and a rapid ice loss through May. But in June and July, low atmospheric pressures and cloudy skies slowed down the melt. Then, after two large storms went across the Arctic basin in August, sea ice melt picked up speed through early September." NASA posted an animation on YouTube that "shows the evolution of the Arctic sea ice cover from its wintertime maximum extent, which was reached on Mar. 24, 2016, and was the lowest on record for the second year in a row, to its apparent yearly minimum, which occurred on Sept. 10, 2016, and is the second lowest in the satellite era."

Comments

But climate change is a myth!!!

[wierd_w]

The GOP, the oil industry, and The Donald ALL agree!

Stories from Nature Magazine suggesting permanent droughts in California http://www.nature.com/articles... are just fear mongering to distract you from your civic obligation to consume conspicuously and excessively!

Industry must continue to grow eternally, or the financial Apocalypse will happen!

remember, Jesus will come and fix everything, so its all good!

Re:But climate change is a myth!!!

[ShanghaiBill]

This was the second lowest sea ice extent. So basically, what this mean is that the worst is past, and things are improving. Global warming could have been a major problem, so it is good to see that we dodged that bullet, the crisis is over, and we don't need to worry about it anymore.

Ice, ice baby

[PopeRatzo]

When I'm president we're going to have massive ice, all right? Strong, powerful ice that grabs you by the shoulders and pushes you down on your stomach and shows you what real ice is all about. Barack Obama let the ice get all thin and runny, which is really really sad. I'm going to make sure the ice is thick and hard and respected everywhere, all right? Respected everywhere. And it will be white, American ice, not muddy ice.