It's peak season for Arctic sea ice

As we round out winter and officially start the spring season this weekend, ice in the Arctic is at its peak, when the subfreezing temperatures for the last several months and the cold ocean waters have maximized overall ice development.  As we head through the latter half of March and the amount of daylight continues to grow, the melt begins and the bloom of Arctic vegetation isn’t too far behind.  Unfortunately, it was another year of sub normal ice with the most ice this year running about a million square kilometers below our 30 year average and is once again one of the lowest on record, dating back to the early 70s…

What’s different about this year more than years past though is that Antarctic sea ice is also below average.  While the South Pole doesn’t experience such a wide variation in ice year over year, the last several have been above average.  But this year, for whatever reason, it’s different with ice peaking slightly below the norm.