{"id":330952,"date":"2024-06-03T07:53:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T05:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=330952"},"modified":"2024-06-03T07:53:30","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T05:53:30","slug":"arctic-ice-persists-may-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=330952","title":{"rendered":"Arctic Ice Persists May\u00a02024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0By\u00a0Ron Clutz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Research ship drifting along with Arctic ice, May 2019 US Naval Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In May, most of the Arctic ocean basins are still frozen over, while the melting of ice extent is underway in the marginal regions.   During May, on average according to MASIE, Arctic ice extents lose 1.7 M km2, and 2024 matched that.  The few basins where open water appears this time of year tend to fluctuate and alternate waxing and waning.  Unusual were the much greater extents estimated by SII (Sea Ice Index, the satellite dataset)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The graph below shows for the month of May patterns for ice extents on average, this year and some other years of note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The graph shows the 18-year average loss for April is 1.7M km2.  2024 tracked nearly average this month throughout. Remarkably, SII showed higher all month, ~200k km2 on average and 315k km2 higher than MASIE yesterday. Other recent years have been nearly average, while 2006 ended with a large defict of ~300k km2 below average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Region<\/strong><\/td>2024152<\/strong><\/td>Day 152 Ave<\/strong><\/td>2024-Ave.<\/strong><\/td>2006152<\/strong><\/td>2024-2006<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
 (0) Northern_Hemisphere<\/td>11720589<\/td>11685746<\/td>34843<\/td>11391134<\/td>329455<\/td><\/tr>
 (1) Beaufort_Sea<\/td>1015932<\/td>1008887<\/td>7045<\/td>1063879<\/td>-47947<\/td><\/tr>
 (2) Chukchi_Sea<\/td>913510<\/td>866924<\/td>46586<\/td>907609<\/td>5900<\/td><\/tr>
 (3) East_Siberian_Sea<\/td>1072016<\/td>1065772<\/td>6244<\/td>1073889<\/td>-1873<\/td><\/tr>
 (4) Laptev_Sea<\/td>828093<\/td>828959<\/td>-866<\/td>856108<\/td>-28016<\/td><\/tr>
 (5) Kara_Sea<\/td>885435<\/td>822185<\/td>63250<\/td>848172<\/td>37263<\/td><\/tr>
 (6) Barents_Sea<\/td>444502<\/td>301553<\/td>142948<\/td>180906<\/td>263596<\/td><\/tr>
 (7) Greenland_Sea<\/td>641881<\/td>584813<\/td>57067<\/td>522040<\/td>119841<\/td><\/tr>
 (8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence<\/td>880982<\/td>888621<\/td>-7639<\/td>721606<\/td>159376<\/td><\/tr>
 (9) Canadian_Archipelago<\/td>777801<\/td>813422<\/td>-35621<\/td>800561<\/td>-22760<\/td><\/tr>
 (10) Hudson_Bay<\/td>902359<\/td>1082841<\/td>-180482<\/td>968121<\/td>-65762<\/td><\/tr>
 (11) Central_Arctic<\/td>3232002<\/td>3219651<\/td>12351<\/td>3188696<\/td>43306<\/td><\/tr>
 (12) Bering_Sea<\/td>102241<\/td>112773<\/td>-10532<\/td>166326<\/td>-64085<\/td><\/tr>
 (13) Baltic_Sea<\/td>285<\/td>177<\/td>108<\/td>720<\/td>-435<\/td><\/tr>
 (14) Sea_of_Okhotsk<\/td>22088<\/td>87670<\/td>-65582<\/td>89739<\/td>-67651<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The table shows regional ice extents in km2.  Note that Hudson and Baffin Bays have started melting, and Hudson is ahead of normal and will likely go to open water in a few weeks. Sea of Okhotsk on the Pacific side is 66k in deficit, with little ice left to lose.  Note the huge surplus in Barents sea on the European side. Everywhere else is mostly in surplus, especially the seas of Barents, Greenland and Kara.  2006 had 329k km2 less ice extent than 2024 (one third of a Wadham).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The polar bears had a Valentine Day\u2019s wish for Arctic Ice.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And Arctic Ice loves them back, returning every year so the bears can roam and hunt for seals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Footnote:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seesaw<\/strong> accurately describes Arctic ice in another sense:  The ice we see <\/strong>now is not the same ice we saw<\/strong> previously.  It is better to think of the Arctic as an ice blender than as an ice cap, explained in the post The Great Arctic Ice Exchange<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sunrise over frozen Bering Sea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In May, most of the Arctic ocean basins are still frozen over, while the melting of ice extent is underway in the marginal regions. During May, on average according to MASIE, Arctic ice extents lose 1.7 M km2, and 2024 matched that. The few basins where open water appears this time of year tend to fluctuate and alternate waxing and waning. Unusual were the much greater extents estimated by SII (Sea Ice Index, the satellite dataset)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":330961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819671,691828935],"class_list":{"0":"post-330952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-arctic-ice","9":"tag-may-2024","11":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/0september-arctic-sea-ice-second-lowest-on-record-climate-change.jpg?fit=3945%2C2219&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1o5W","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":329418,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=329418","url_meta":{"origin":330952,"position":0},"title":"Arctic Ice Plentiful Mid May\u00a02024","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/05\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In May, most of the Arctic ocean basins are still frozen over, while the melting of ice extent is underway in the marginal regions. 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