NSIDC Total Area as at 8 December (5 day trailing average) = 9,796,842 km2 Total Area 9,796,842 km2 40,006 km2 > 2010's average. 365,806 k > 2017 -420,522 k < 2000's average. Total Gain 54 k Peripheral Seas 15 k gain Central Seas__ -16 k loss Other Seas___ 56 k gain Peripheral Seas Bering _______ 2 k gain Baffin Bay____ 8 k gain Greenland____ 10 k gain Barents ______ -6 k loss CAB Seas Beaufort_____ -0 k loss CAA_________ 1 k gain East Siberian__ 2 k gain Central Arctic_ -10 k loss Kara_________ -27 k loss Laptev_______ -2 k loss Chukchi______ 21 k gain Other Seas Okhotsk______ -2 k loss St Lawrence___ -2 k loss Hudson Bay___ 59 k gain
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Area gain below average (by 16k) but increasing day by day.
Area now retreating from the approach to the 2000's average, and approaching down to 2010's average.
This is in line with recent very slow gains (and even extent loss) in daily extent (both JAXA and NSIDC data) which is now changing to increasing extent gain.
Other stuffGFS says Arctic temperature anomaly at around +3.5 over the next few days. GFS Also saying another pulse of warmer air moving West to East across N. America greatly reducing extreme cold in Central and NE Canada over the next few days or even longer.
Okhotsk, Bering and Chukchi areas are below zero, and no major pulses of warmth on the horizon. Result is showing in the Chukchi area gains, but not yet elsewhere.
Fierce +ve temp anomaly over the Atlantic front looks like continuing for a good few days more..
Kara Sea area
loss on this day of 27 k. Also Central Arctic Sea losses continuing. Either losses will continue, or gains will be low, until the weather pattern changes.
Increase in area gain mainly driven by Hudson Bay (+60k on this day). But this is self-limiting as at this rate of gain the Bay will be full-up ice in less than a week.