JAXA ANTARCTIC SEA ICE EXTENT :- 4,321,406 km2(March 20, 2020)
Extent gain in the last week pretty much average, only half a million km2, twice the area of the UK. Everything in the Antarctic is on an enormous scale.
- 2019 is 21st lowest in the satellite record since 1979,
- Extent gain from minimum to date 1.56 million km2, 0.14 million (10%) more than the 10 year average of 1.42 million km2 by this day.
- Extent is 1,341 k more than 2017 on this day,
- Extent is 477 k more than 2018 on this day,
- Extent is 1,031 k more than 2019 on this day,
- Extent is 188 k more than the 1980's average on this day,
and Extent on this day is more than in 12 of the years before 2002,
- 9.8% of the average ice gain of the season done, with on average 184 days to the average date of maximum of 20 September.
The Perils of Projections
Average freeze from this date would produce a maximum of 18.88 million km2, 0.82 million MORE than the record low on 12th Sep 2017 of 18.06 million km2.
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ps:- In the Arctic it is a case of the warmer it gets, the less sea ice.
This may now not be true in the Antarctic, and could even end up being untrue in the Arctic.
This is perhaps due principally to the accelerating melt of the AIS and GIS.
I am hoping to have a look at that during my lockdown of 95 days to go (enforced by my daughter).