Arctic Sea Ice Extent Plummeting Below 2 Standard Deviations; Lkely Record Low For Winter Peak

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While balmy hints of spring melt piles of snow in the eastern U.S., the impending end of winter marks peak season for Arctic sea ice. But this year, that winter maximum area is currently on track to hit a record low since satellite records began in 1979.

What that low-ice mark means for the spring and summer melting seasons is unclear, but the milestone would still be notable in the global warming-fueled cycle of Arctic sea ice decline. “The fact that we're starting the melt season with low — maybe record low — winter extents cannot be good,” Jennifer Francis, a Rutgers University Arctic researcher, said in an email.

Sea ice extent is crucial to the Arctic's ecology and economy, affecting wildlife habitats, weather patterns, and shipping lanes. Sea ice is a key part of the habitats of animals like polar bears and walruses, as well as fish and other creatures that live below it. When it is missing it can make it dififcult for some of the animals to find food. For humans, ice-free areas of water are prime real estate for oil drilling and shipping and an Arctic low on ice would open the region to more of both, a controversial proposition. There has also been research that indicates the disappearance of sea ice, along with the broader warming of the Arctic, is affecting weather patterns over North America, Europe and Asia, though there is still much work to be done to fully explain such a connection.

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Those patterns have played a role in shaping this winter’s extent. Temperatures in two areas, the Sea of Okhotsk (on the eastern coast of Russia) and the Bering Sea (between Russia and Alaska), have been 7 to 11°F above normal, keeping ice levels there well below normal. That heat is part of a broader area of unusually warm temperatures that extends from Europe across Asia and down through the western U.S.

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http://www.climatecentral.org/news/arctic-sea-ice-record-winter-low-18764

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Important news story.