February’s Arctic sea ice extent fourth lowest on record

As winter begins to wind down in the Arctic, the National Snow and Ice Data Center is reporting that the steady long-term trend of shrinking sea ice continued in February.

According to NSIDC scientists, sea ice extent was the fourth lowest for the month of February since satellite record keeping began in 1978. Last month, there was a total of 800,000 fewer square kilometers of water covered by sea ice than the average for the period 1979-200o, according to NSIDC. That area is almost equivalent to California, Oregon and Washington combined. The extent of Arctic sea ice in February was also 140,000 square kilometers smaller than the total for February 2008, or an area almost equivalent to Wisconsin.

The winter freeze-up is still heading toward its seasonal maximum and should peak in March, so sea ice could still make a comeback. But I would wager on the stock market rising before I’d take that bet.

Sea-ice extent is not the only symptom of warming in Arctic waters. The ice remains considerably thinner and younger than in recent decades, and the total volume is lower than the long-term average by an even greater amount than is sea ice extent, according to scientists at the Polar Research Group  at the University of Illinois.

Meanwhile, snow coverage in the Northern Hemisphere currently seems to be suffering as well. The area covered by snow this past February was almost a million square kilometers below the long term average, which dates back to the late 1960s, according Rutgers University Global Snow Lab. That’s an area equivalent to the size of France.

Some links:

• A 30-day animation of Arctic Sea Ice, from early February to early March: here
• An animation of snow and ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere from Feb. 2 to March 4: here.
• Snow and ice cover in North America, Feb. 2 to March 4: here.