Another month has passed, and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: November 2019 saw an above average sea ice volume increase according to PIOMAS (3834 vs 3553 km3 for the 2007-2018 period). In fact, only three years - 2007, 2011 and 2018 - saw a larger increase, which means all other years gained on 2019. Of course, it also means that 2019 is no longer on a par with 2012 and 2016. The difference increased to 212 and 961 km3, respectively, and 2019 is now firmly in 3r ..read more

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: During October there was a slowdown in ice growth, which is also reflected in the PIOMAS numbers. 2019 was the third year since 2007 to record a volume increase under 2000 km3. Given that 2016 increased even more slowly, it has overtaken 2019, which is now third lowest on record. But as can be seen on the graph above, the difference with 2012 (99 km3) and 2016 (31 km3) is negligible. Here's how the diff ..read more

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: As usual, the minimum was reached during September, and as with other data sets (extent and area), this year's minimum was second lowest on record. PIOMAS bottomed out at 4058 km3 on 14 September, which is 244 km3 lower than 2011 and 385 km3 higher than 2012. In total, 18,432 km3 of sea ice volume was lost, which is the fourth highest amount in the 2007-2019 period. What is interesting to note, is that ..read more

Apologies for this late update, but at least it will give me the opportunity to give my opinion/analysis of how this melting season has evolved, now that the minimum is just around the corner. It also gives me the opportunity to announce that the Arctic Sea Ice Forum recently passed the 100 million pageview mark. This year already has the most pageviews since the ASIF's inception in 2013, and this month - only halfway through - already attracted more pageviews than any other month so far. My gratitude goes out to everyone who contributes with images, animations, analysis, speculation and heaps ..read more

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: 2019 had a real opportunity during July to further move away from 2012, but failed to do so. Both years had a volume loss that was well below the 2007-2018 average of 6037 km3, which isn't that surprising given how low they both already are. 2017 had even less of a volume loss, and so 2019 is still lowest and the gap with number 2 has grown a little bit. All other years, except for 2014, managed to clos ..read more

Last week, I opened a special thread over on the Arctic Sea Ice Forum to compare 2012 and 2019, because basically, that's what it comes down to at this point. In the thread, people post data, maps, graphs and satellite images to get an idea of how this year matches up with 2012. Towards the end of the month, I hope to use some of that material to provide a summary, before heading into the final phase of the melting season. Today, one ASIF commenter called Comradez posted a YouTube video in which he compares 2012 and 2019 satellite images of one part of the Arctic (the intersection between the ..read more

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: To quote Céline Dijon*: This is getting serious. With a total drop of 7066 km3 for June 2019, this was only the second time - after 2012 - that the 7000 km3-mark had been breached. It was just enough to squeeze past 2017 and take the lead in the rankings, while leaving all other years - except for 2012 - in the dust. For instance, the difference with 2008 has grown to 5395 km3, which amounts to a decrea ..read more

Before the latest PIOMAS data are published, somewhere next week, I wanted to present an overview of all the things that have been happening in the Arctic these past couple of weeks, and what they may mean for the outcome of the 2019 melting season. You've guessed it, I'm going to be talking about melting momentum (for those not familiar with the concept, here's the archive).  But I want to start off with something else. Almost every melting season is marked by some spectacular event nowadays. From the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012, the huge cracking event of February 2013, the possibility to s ..read more

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: As you can see, 2019 has moved into second place on the PIOMAS volume graph. The drop of 3234 km3 for May was third highest on record (after 2010 and 2012 which dropped 3523 and 3508 km3 respectively) and well above the average May decrease of 2621 km3. Last month, 2019 was on a par with 2011, 2016 and 2018 for second place, but now there is no question who is second. And 2017's lead has been reduced fu ..read more

Another month (and a half) has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: The flatline that started in the second half of March, continued for a while longer during April, shot up a tiny bit towards this year's maximum, and then essentially flatlined again, with a small dip towards the end of the month. This year's maximum of 22,490 km3 is the third lowest on record, 116 and 1,708 km3 behind 2018 and 2017 respectively (yes, the three lowest maximums on record hav ..read more