Old gits with some background in electronics, such as myself, might remember the Signetics 555 timer, as it was almost ubiquitous in circuit design a few decades ago.
It was just that bit of weird arcane knowledge which caused me to do a quick double-take at the Antarctic tab in my JAXA/ADS extent tracker today. The rolling 365-day average has just dropped to 10.536 million sq kms, which displays on my spreadsheet as now being 555k sq kms lower than the previous lowest, which was set way back in August of 1980.
(How time[r]s have changed. )This current figure of 10.536 is still dropping at ~1.5k/day, and, considering that the 2016 Antarctic extent values didn't start to plummet until next month, it is definitely possible that, during September, the rolling-365 could end up more than 1 million sq kms below the 1980's average of 11.486 million sq kms.
The equivalent rolling-365 taken from the NSIDC dailies lags somewhat at "only" 408k sq kms lower than the erstwhile lowest ever NSIDC value from 1980; a difference of 147k sq kms between itself and the equivalent ADS reduction. However, the delta between the two sets of data has remained pretty constant for some time now.
The ADS rolling-365 equalled the 1980 record-low value on January 26
th of this year; on the same date, the NSIDC equivalent was 138k higher than its 1980 figure.
The NSIDC rolling-365 attained parity with its equivalent 1980 record-low on March 26
th, by which time the ADS number was 142k sq kms lower than its previous record low.
As mentioned above, the current amount by which the ADS record-low has been reduced now stands at 147k more than the equivalent NSIDC reduction. In other words, the delta between the two sets of data has changed by about 9k in a period of around 6 or 7 months.
So, the next time you hear one of the flat-earth brigade spew forth some drivel about "
gains in Antarctic sea ice more or less cancel out losses in the Arctic", you'll be able to tell them precisely which orifice they're talking out of.
I was just about to hit the "Post" button, when the old
Red Alert informed me that another comment had arrived whilst I was typing.
Apropos of gerontocrat's musing about the September value, it will also be very interesting to see what happens come November, as that is traditionally the time of the global sea ice maximum.
A few days ago, on another thread, I posted a chart showing the recent behaviour of the rolling-365 for global sea ice, and I've appended that below. (It has dropped another 7k sq kms in the intervening 5 days.)
As the current value is ~ 22.318 million sq kms, one cannot help but wonder when that might drop below 22? In the last 4 and a half months, it has lost ~ 318k sq kms, so it is not outwith the realms of possibility that we could see sub-22 by around Christmas time - just what we don't need as a present!