re: Arctic Sea Ice Extent At A Decadal High Every Day In November

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At the end of its melt season, Arctic sea ice fell to the sixth lowest extent in the satellite record, both in the daily and monthly average. Sea ice hit 5.02 million square kilometers (1.94 million square miles) on September 17 and averaged 5.3 million square kilometers (2.05 million square miles) for the month of September.

"Twenty years ago, having ice extent this low would have astounded us," said NSIDC Director Mark Serreze. "Now it is expected."

This year edged out last year as the sixth lowest extent since satellites started measuring sea ice in 1979. The lowest Arctic extent on record occurred in 2012, when sea ice measured 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles). The succeeding lowest years are 2007, 2011, 2008, and 2010.

Through 2014, Arctic sea ice has now been declining at a rate of 13.3% per decade relative to the 1981 to 2010 average. The ten lowest September ice extents over the satellite record have all occurred in the last ten years.

“This year was nothing surprising. Overall we’re continuing the long-term decreasing trend,” said Walt Meier, research scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. “We’re still well below average and there’s no indication that we’re going to recover.”

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