This year on track to have the 2nd lowest Arctic sea ice extent on record

To no surprise, sea ice extent in the Arctic has once again been running well below normal and close to the 2012 extent, which is currently the year in which the record low annual minimum extent was set.

Due to recent atmospheric pattern changes, the rate of sea ice loss has steadily slowed compared to what it was earlier in the summer and spring. However, based on the latest data, NSIDC scientists currently project that 2019 will end up as the second lowest sea ice extent minimum on record in the Arctic.

In terms of sea ice thickness, the Arctic sea ice thickness is about 50 percent of what it was at this time of year back in 1980.

Arctic sea ice is getting progressively younger and thinner, which makes it more prone to melting out completely during the warm season. With less ice cover in the summer there is more open water. Open water is darker than snow and ice, which allows more of the sun's energy to be absorbed rather than be reflected back to space, which in turn leads to more heating at the surface.

The image below shows the daily estimated Arctic sea ice volume plots for the past nine years compared to the 1979-2018 average. So far, 2019 is running right along the bottom of those curves.