NSIDC publishes new report on the state of ice sheets at the North Pole

Apr 3, 2014 09:00 GMT  ·  By
Arctic sea ice extent for March 2014 was 14.80 million square kilometers (5.70 million square miles)
   Arctic sea ice extent for March 2014 was 14.80 million square kilometers (5.70 million square miles)

According to the conclusions of the latest monthly report from the US National Ice and Snow Data Center (NSIDC), sea ices in the Arctic have reached their maximum annual extent on March 21. Data available thus far suggest that this was the fifth-lowest sea ice extent in the 1978-to-2014 record.

These values reflect the continued trend towards ice loss at the North Pole, climatologists comment. Though a brief surge in ice extents was recorded towards the middle of March, that was not enough to bring average values any higher this year. The area covered in sea ice measured 14.80 million square kilometers (5.70 million square miles) in 2014, the NSIDC reports.

The new analysis also indicates that the Antarctic reached its annual minimum ice extent on February 23. Statistically speaking, this was the fourth-highest Antarctic minimum in the satellite record. These values are inscribed within a 2-year trend of increased ice extents at the South Pole, but Antarctic ices continue to remain more viable on a year-to-year basis than Arctic ones.

Returning to the North Pole, the surface covered in ice this winter was around 730,000 square kilometers (282,000 square miles) below the 1981-to-2010 average. The 2014 values were around 330,000 square kilometers (127,000 square miles) above the record-lowest extents for any month of March, recorded back in 2006.

Most often, annual maximum sea ice extents are reached in the Arctic around March 9, but this year's maximums were achieved later on due to the fact that the Arctic oscillation turned strongly positive from March 8 onwards. This favored the formation of extra ice beyond the usual temporal threshold.

Wind patterns at the surface of the Arctic Ocean also played their part, contributing to pushing sea ice onto the Barents Sea. This area has remained largely devoid of ice covers throughout the winter for several reasons, but March saw its surface covered to nearly long-term average values.

One of the possible explanations why the Barents Sea, and the Arctic in general, developed so little ice this winter season could be that air temperatures remained anomalously high throughout this region from March 15 onwards. Recorded deviations were between 2 to 6 degrees Celsius (4 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit) from the 30-year average.

However, the latest report does have some good news as well. “The extent of multiyear ice within the Arctic Ocean is distinctly greater than it was at the beginning of last winter. During the summer of 2013, a larger fraction of first-year ice survived compared to recent years. This ice has now become second-year ice,” NSIDC experts say in the analysis.

“Additionally, the predominant recirculation of the multiyear ice pack within the Beaufort Gyre this winter and a reduced transport of multiyear ice through Fram Strait maintained the multiyear ice extent throughout the winter,” the document concludes.