Sea Ice Yearly Minimum with Graph Overlay 1979-2008
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The continued significant reduction in the extent of the summer sea ice cover is a dramatic illustration of the pronounced impact increased global temperatures are having on the Arctic regions. There has also been a significant reduction in the relative amount of older, thicker ice. Satellite-based passive microwave images of the sea ice cover have provided a reliable tool for continuously monitoring changes in the extent of the Arctic ice cover since 1979. During 2008 the summer minimum ice extent, observed in September, reached 4.7 million km2. While slightly above the record minimum of 4.3 million km2, set just a year earlier in September 2007, the 2008 summer minimum further reinforces the strong negative trend in summertime ice extent observed over the past thirty years. At the record minimum in 2007, extent of the sea ice cover was 39% below the long-term average from 1979 to 2000. A longer time series of sea ice extent, derived primarily from operational sea ice charts produced by national ice centers, suggests that the 2007 September ice extent was 50% lower than conditions in the 1950s to the 1970s (Stroeve et al. 2008). The spatial pattern of the 2008 minimum extent was different than in 2007. The annual maximum sea ice extent typically occurs in March. In March 2008, the maximum ice extent was 15.2 million km2. This marked a second year of slight recovery in winter ice extent from the record minimum of 14.4 million km2 for the period 1979–2008, which was observed in 2006. For comparison, the mean monthly ice extent for March and September, for the period 1979–2008, is 15.6 and 6.7 million km2, respectively. The Arctic sea ice cover is composed of perennial ice (the ice that survives year-round) and seasonal ice (the ice that melts during the summer). Consistent with the diminishing trends in the extent and thickness of the cover is a significant loss of the older, thicker perennial ice in the Arctic. Data from the NASA QuikSCAT launched in 1999 (Nghiem et al., 2007) and a buoy-based Drift-Age Model (Rigor and Wallace, 2004) indicate that the amount of perennial ice in the March ice cover has decreased from approximately 5.5 to 3.0 million km2 over the period 1958–2007. While there is considerable interannual variability, an overall downward trend in the amount of perennial ice began in the early 1970s. This trend appears to coincide with a general increase in the Arctic-wide, annually averaged surface air temperature, which also begins around 1970. In recent years, the rate of reduction in the amount of older, thicker perennial ice has been increasing, and now very little ice older than 5 years remains (Maslanik et al. 2007).
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Annual Arctic Sea Ice Minimum from 1979 to 2008.
Duration: 32.0 seconds
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Overlay sequence: graph showing annual trend from 1979 to 2008.
Duration: 32.0 seconds
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Minimum Sea Ice Sequence with Date Overlay from 1979 to 2008.
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Minimum Sea Ice Sequence from 1979 to 2008. This image is the Arctic sea ice minimum area during the week of September 12, 2008.
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Date Overlay from 1979 to 2008.
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21 September 1979 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1979
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05 September 1980 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1980
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10 September 1981 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1981
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17 September 1982 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1982
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18 September 1983 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1983
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16 September 1984 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1984
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07 September 1985 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1985
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06 September 1986 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1986
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02 September 1987 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1987
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12 September 1988 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1988
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23 September 1989 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1989
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19 September 1990 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1990
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16 September 1991 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1991
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04 September 1992 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1992
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11 September 1993 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1993
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05 September 1994 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1994
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01 October 1995 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1995
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10 September 1996 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1996
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19 September 1997 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1997
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12 September 1998 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1998
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11 September 1999 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 1999
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11 September 2000 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 2000
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19 September 2001 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 2001
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12 September 2002 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 2002
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11 September 2003 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 2003
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11 September 2004 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 2004
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21 September 2005 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 2005
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14 September 2006 Arctic sea ice minimum area for 2006
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14 September 2007 Arctic sea ice minimum
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