Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Record low for December Arctic sea ice volume and thickness too
December 2016 sea ice volume was 11,200 km3 , nearly 1000 km3 below the previous record for December in 2012. This record is in part the result of anomalously high temperatures throughout the Arctic for November and end of December discussed here and here. 2016 December volume was 52% below the maximum December ice volume in 1979, 39% below the 1979-2015 mean, and about 1.3 standard deviations below the long term trend line.
Average ice thickness in December 2016 over the PIOMAS domain is the lowest on record (Fig 4.) Note that the interpretation of average ice thickness needs to take into account that only areas with ice thickness less than 15 cm are included so that years with less total volume can have a greater ice thickness.
Fig 6. Shows the the anomaly for December 2016 relative to the 2000-2015 base period. Sea ice is thinner almost everywhere except for a small area reaching from the North Pole to Fram Strait. Sea ice is particularly thin in an area north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island that typically features the thickest ice in the Arctic. This is likely due to anomalous winds driving the sea ice away from the Northern Greenland Coast.
http://psc.apl.uw.edu/research/projects/arctic-sea-ice-volume-anomaly/
Average ice thickness in December 2016 over the PIOMAS domain is the lowest on record (Fig 4.) Note that the interpretation of average ice thickness needs to take into account that only areas with ice thickness less than 15 cm are included so that years with less total volume can have a greater ice thickness.
Fig 6. Shows the the anomaly for December 2016 relative to the 2000-2015 base period. Sea ice is thinner almost everywhere except for a small area reaching from the North Pole to Fram Strait. Sea ice is particularly thin in an area north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island that typically features the thickest ice in the Arctic. This is likely due to anomalous winds driving the sea ice away from the Northern Greenland Coast.
http://psc.apl.uw.edu/research/projects/arctic-sea-ice-volume-anomaly/
