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Sea Ice Today
Analyses
Sea ice extent for February 2020 tracked below average, ranking as the thirteenth lowest monthly average in the satellite record. A brief pause in ice growth in the middle of February was related to the regional wind pattern.
![Plot shows average sea level pressure in the Arctic in millibars (hPa) from January 1, 2020 to January 31, 2020. Plot shows average sea level pressure in the Arctic in millibars (hPa) from January 1, 2020 to January 31, 2020.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Aerial%20photo/2020-Feb-ASINA-Figure2c.png.webp?itok=hKGzE9Ma)
Sea ice extent for January 2020 tracked well below average, with the monthly average tied at eighth lowest in the satellite record.
![Photo shows the RV Polarstern, the German icebreaker that is frozen into Arctic sea ice during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Change expedition. Photo shows the RV Polarstern, the German icebreaker that is frozen into Arctic sea ice during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Change expedition.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Aerial%20photo/2020-Jan-ASINA-Figure4.jpg.webp?itok=OeMHevyH)
The year 2019 saw an early melt onset and high sea surface temperatures during summer in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The September minimum extent ended up tied with 2007 and 2016 for second lowest in the satellite record.
![Terra satellite image uses the multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) instrument to visualize the Bering Strait, with the Chukchi Sea to the north. Russia is on the left, Alaska is on the right. Terra satellite image uses the multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) instrument to visualize the Bering Strait, with the Chukchi Sea to the north. Russia is on the left, Alaska is on the right.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Aerial%20photo/2019-Dec-ASINA-Figure4.png.webp?itok=6yLDBV5x)
Arctic sea ice extent for November 2019 ended up at second lowest in the 41-year satellite record. Regionally, extent remains well below average in the Chukchi Sea, Hudson Bay, and Davis Strait.
![Figure shows air temperatures compared to average for October 2019. Figure shows air temperatures compared to average for October 2019.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Aerial%20photo/2019-Nov-ASINA-Figure2d.png.webp?itok=Z2czawNW)
October daily sea ice extent went from third lowest in the satellite record at the beginning of the month to lowest on record starting on October 13 through October 30.
![Graphic ranks months based on their Arctic air temperature from 1979 to 2019 at 925 hPa from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) Reanalysis for all areas north of 70 degrees N. Graphic ranks months based on their Arctic air temperature from 1979 to 2019 at 925 hPa from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) Reanalysis for all areas north of 70 degrees N.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Aerial%20photo/2019-Oct-ASINA-Figure4a.png.webp?itok=UrNFUg6L)
Arctic sea ice began its autumn regrowth in the last 12 days of September, with the ice edge expanding along a broad front in the western Arctic Ocean.
![Line graph shows Arctic sea ice decline per decade, and includes the 2019 sea ice decline trajectory. Line graph shows Arctic sea ice decline per decade, and includes the 2019 sea ice decline trajectory.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Aerial%20photo/2019-Sep-ASINA-Figure2b.png.webp?itok=KHAE8_bH)
On September 18, Arctic sea ice reached its likely minimum extent for 2019.
![Shows a true-color composite image of a tongue of ice that has persisted in the eastern Beaufort Sea. Shows a true-color composite image of a tongue of ice that has persisted in the eastern Beaufort Sea.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Aerial%20photo/2019-Sep-ASINA-Figure3.jpg.webp?itok=I2ET86cG)
The end of the Arctic sea ice melt season is nigh. The last couple of weeks have seen small rises and falls in ice extent, primarily due to changes in wind patterns.
![Map of the Arctic shows average fields of ice drift and sea level pressure (SLP) from April 1 to May 31, 2019. Map of the Arctic shows average fields of ice drift and sea level pressure (SLP) from April 1 to May 31, 2019.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Aerial%20photo/2019-Sep-Figure6b-ASINA.jpg.webp?itok=tYOXBo6y)
While Arctic sea ice extent was tracking at record low levels in July and August, the pace of ice loss slowed considerably after the middle of August, despite above-average air temperatures over much of the Arctic Ocean.
Arctic sea ice extent in July tracked at record low levels for multiple individual days and for the month as a whole.
Loss of ice extent through the first half of July matched loss rates observed in 2012, the year which had the lowest September sea ice extent in the satellite record.
After a period of slow ice loss in the middle of June, Arctic sea ice loss ramped up, and extent at the end of the month fell below 2012, the year which ended up with the lowest September ice extent in the satellite record.
May saw above average temperatures over nearly all of the Arctic Ocean, Baffin Bay, and Greenland. Early sea ice retreat in the Bering Sea extended into the southern Chukchi Sea. Northern Baffin Bay and the Nares Strait have low ice cover.
April reached a new record Arctic low sea ice extent. Sea ice loss was rapid in the beginning of the month because of declines in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Arctic sea ice extent appears to have reached its maximum extent on March 13, marking the beginning of the sea ice melt season. Since the maximum, sea ice extent has been tracking at record low levels.
Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its annual maximum extent on March 13, tying with 2007 for seventh lowest in the 40-year satellite record. The 2019 maximum sea ice extent is the highest since 2014.
Arctic sea ice extent for February 2019 was the seventh lowest in the satellite record for the month, tying with 2015. So far this winter, sea ice extent has remained above the 2017 record low maximum.
In January 2019, a pattern of high-altitude winds in the Arctic, better known as the polar vortex, weakened, sweeping frigid air over North America and Europe in the second half of the month.
As 2018 came to a close, Arctic sea ice extent was tracking at its third lowest level in the satellite record, while sea ice in the Antarctic remained at historic lows.