While the world’s ocean continue to warm, according to reputable agencies that record temperatures, it shouldn’t be surprising that trend declines continue for sea ice cover for both the Arctic and the Antarctic regions.
NOAA’s National Centers forEnvironmental Information reported on sea ice cover in the two polar regions in its global snow and ice report for December 2019 available at ncdc.noaa.gov.
key sections of the report for the two polar regions are reproduced below.
“December 2019 marked the 22nd consecutive December with below average sea ice extent. The average Arctic sea ice extent for December was 11.95 million square km (4.61 million square miles), according to analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, based on data from NOAA and NASA.
“This value was 890,000 square km (344,000 square miles), or 6.9 percent, smaller than the 1981–2010 average and tied with 2006 as the fifth smallest December sea ice extent since records began in 1979.
“According to NSIDC, sea ice grew faster than average during December 2019 by an average of 82,100 square km (31,700 square miles)—the third fastest December ice growth rate on record. Only Decembers of 2006 and 2016 had a higher growth rate.”
“Antarctic sea ice extent during December was 9.30 million square km (3.59 million square miles), according to analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center. This value is 1.11 million square km (430,000 square miles), or 10.7 percent, smaller than the 1981–2010 average and also the fifth smallest December extent on record. This was the fourth consecutive December on record with below-average sea ice extent on record.”
