The entire Asian sector is actively collapsing. This is a catastrophe.
No it's not. (Thanks Pagophilus for pointing this out.) The SMOS microwave maps must be interpreted with caution during the melt season.
I always post this when I post them...
These images are sensitive to melt ponds.
IGNORE THE COLOR LEGEND'S NUMERICAL SCALE & LABEL (the color order progression should be valid though) - DURING THE MELT SEASON THESE ARE NOT LEGITIMATE THICKNESS MEASUREMENTS. Instead, my understanding is that any color other than beige indicates ice that is:
a) thin, ~<50 cm; &/or
b) has concentration well below 100%; &/or
c) has surface liquid water.
In particular, colours other than beige in the ice pack interior are likely to indicate the presence of surface water.
According to the SMOS maps, this year is only in the middle of the pack for the years beginning with 2010,
or at least it was on 10 June.
Steven, looking forward to any updates of your very informative plot.
Meanwhile, a direct comparison of SMOS maps for this date can be made by looking at the archive here:
https://seaice.uni-bremen.de/data/smos/png/.