On behalf of the OSI SAF sea-ice team, we are happy to present the new OSI SAF Sea Ice Index v2.1. The index consists of both the sea-ice extent and sea-ice area information and is provided as global, hemispheric, and regional data.
So far, 2020 is one of the years we have measured the least sea ice in the Arctic. In October, almost four million square kilometers of ice are missing compared to what was common in the 80s. This corresponds to an area ten times the size of Norway.
The July 2020 mean sea-ice extent is the lowest on record for this month in the 40+ years long satellite record, with an averaged value of 8.1 million square kilometers. July 2020 stole the record from July 2012. The 10 years of lowest sea-ice extent for July have all occurred since 2007.
Following in the footsteps of Nansen and his Fram expedition more than one hundred years ago, the research vessel Polarstern has been frozen into the ice since October, and drifts in the Arctic Ocean towards Svalbard and the Fram Strait. This international expedition is called MOSAiC (https://mosaic-expedition.org/). In 1893-1896 it took Nansen’s ship nearly three years to drift across the Arctic Ocean. For MOSAiC the journey has been less than a year.
The yearly maximum (in the Arctic) and minimum (in the Antarctic) sea-ice extent occurs in February/March. With satellite data processed at Norwegian Meteorological Institute the sea-ice extent is tracked and described on a daily basis.
Børge Ousland and Mike Horn’s 87 day expedition to cross the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole on skis, from boat to boat without assistance, took place during changing sea ice conditions. Using sea ice drift products - retrieved daily from satellite data - we can estimate the influence ice drift had on the expedition.
October 2019 sets a new record low for October mean sea-ice extent in the Arctic and the strongest reduction in sea-ice cover is happening north of Siberia and Alaska.
September is typically the month with least sea ice in the Arctic, and with most sea ice in the Antarctic. How did the sea ice behave this summer? We take a look back.