Copernicus calls the values for the areas above the Arctic Circle in October “extremely high”, both those measured on land and above sea. It arctic ice has never been so small in surface area in October since satellite measurements began in 1979.
“The ice started to grow very late”, says our glaciologist Stef Lhermitte (TU Delft). “Normally the minimum is reached between the middle and the end of September, when the polar autumn sets in and it gets almost completely dark. From then on the area only starts to lose energy, because there is a negative energy balance: the heat is radiated to space, but no more energy is added. But now the ice is struggling to grow again, this of course fits in with the general story of global warming. ”
October was also the fourth consecutive month of ice-free or near-ice-free conditions along the Northern Sea Route. Antarctica in contrast, experienced a second month with above-average amounts of sea ice, after admittedly after 48 consecutive months with below-average values.
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