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The ice extent trends from 1979 to 2002 have been a statistically significant Arctic sea ice decrease of −2.5% ± 0.9% per decade during those 23 years. [7] Climate models simulated this trend in 2002. [8] The September minimum ice extent trend for 1979–2011 declined by 12.0% per decade during 32 years. [9]
The Arctic Ocean is the mass of water positioned approximately above latitude 65° N. Arctic Sea Ice refers to the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by ice. The Arctic sea ice minimum is the day in a given year when Arctic sea ice reaches its smallest extent, occurring at the end of the summer melting season, normally during September.
Sea Ice in the Arctic Ocean fluctuates with the seasons. Sea ice extent is the area of sea with a specified amount of ice, usually 15%. To satellite microwave sensors, surface melt appears to be open water rather than water on top of sea ice.
This image, taken from a data visualization, shows the Arctic sea ice minimum extent on September 11, 2024. The yellow boundary shows the minimum extent averaged over the 30-year period from 1981 ...
The Arctic has already lost about half of its sea ice, compared to the 1980s at the end of the summer. It is known that more warming has delayed ice formation, and resulted in thinner sea ice growth.
The first sea ice-free September could occur as early as the 2030s, the study found. Arctic sea ice has been declining for decades but has shrunk at an even faster rate in the past 20 years.
Arctic sea ice extent ice hit an all-time low in September 2012, when the ice was determined to cover only 24% of the Arctic Ocean, offsetting the previous low of 29% in 2007. Predictions of when the first "ice free" Arctic summer might occur vary.
[54]: 1249 In September 2020, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that the Arctic sea ice in 2020 had melted to an extent of 3.74 million km 2, its second-smallest extent since records began in 1979. [55] Earth lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice between 1994 and 2017, with Arctic sea ice accounting for 7.6 trillion tonnes of this loss.