Hunters watch as sea ice retreats

[nitpicker]

http://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Early-retreat-of-Arctic-sea-ice-379884721.html

Hunters watch as sea ice retreats

By Tracy Sinclare |

Posted: Tue 5:27 PM, May 17, 2016

ANCHORAGE (KTUU) Arctic sea ice hit a record low wintertime maximum on March 24. Since then, the retreat has been steady and fast moving.

Though the minimum sea ice levels usually don’t hit until early fall, we have less sea ice for this date than has ever been seen in the satellite era, according to Rick Thoman, Climate Sciences and Services Manager with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks. .It’s too early to know if the sea ice will hit the record minimum this year but there’s “almost no way it can't be very low," Thoman says. "It’s not going to go up from here.”

Near St. Lawrence Island, the ice has already retreated for the season. Without the steady ice pack in the spring, it’s harder to catch traditional foods, such as walrus and seals, says Savoonga resident David Akeya. The ice pack also keeps the ocean swells down. “Now that it’s all open, it’s rough out there,” says Akeya, 41. “Used to (be) we’d, even in July, have ice still floating around, still floating by, and now it’s mid-May and it’s already gone.”
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The record sea ice minimum was recorded September 16, 2012.