Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Maximum Extent for 2014

MarineLink.com April 4, 2014

A NASA Blue Marble view of Arctic sea ice on March 21, 2014.

NSIDC issued an update to Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis describing winter sea ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean stating Arctic sea ice reached its maximum extent for the year on March 21 at 14.91 million square kilometers (5.76 million square miles), making it the fifth lowest maximum in the satellite record (1978-2014).

Antarctic sea ice reached its annual minimum on February 23, and was the fourth highest Antarctic minimum in the satellite record.

While this continues a strong pattern of greater-than-average sea ice extent in Antarctica for the past two years, Antarctic sea ice remains more variable year-to-year than the Arctic.

To read the full analysis from NSIDC scientists, see http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews.

nsidc.org