Arctic Ice Movember Update

Arctic Ice Extents have roughly doubled since the Sept. minimum and are now up to 10M km2. The last 1/3 of maximum will take until March, principally because several basins are frozen over and cannot add coverage. To date, Beaufort and CAA (Canadian Archipelago) are full, as are Laptev and East Siberian on the Russian side. Kara is 3/4 covered and the Central Arctic wil add only 3% from here.

During the first half of November we can see at the bottom Beaufort and East Siberian filling in, leaving only Chukchi with open water. On the right, Both Baffin and Hudson bays are now growing more strongly. At the top Kara ice extent has reached 75% of its March maximum.

The graph compares extents over the first 17 days of November.
NHday321

2017 has reached 9.9M km2, 2007 nearly the same, and both are close to the 10 year average of 10M km2. 2012 lags 300k km2 lower than 2017, while 2016 is 877k km2 behind. At this point MASIE and SII are tracking the 10-year average, with SII about 200k km2 lower.

The Table below shows where ice is located on day 321 in regions of the Arctic ocean. 10 year average comes from 2007 through 2016 inclusive.

Region	2017321	Day 321 Average	2017-Ave.	2016304	2017-2016
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	9904268	10013895	-109626	9026577	877691
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1052982	1067181	-14199	1056304	-3322
(2) Chukchi_Sea	449182	702958	-253776	616755	-167573
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1076201	1077799	-1598	1087137	-10936
(4) Laptev_Sea	897845	897517	328	896732	1113
(5) Kara_Sea	696550	649727	46822	254492	442058
(6) Barents_Sea	68869	174077	-105208	25907	42962
(7) Greenland_Sea	394494	499069	-104575	390593	3901
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	761453	552922	208531	524708	236745
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	852865	851728	1137	853180	-315
(10) Hudson_Bay	460631	273706	186925	185679	274952
(11) Central_Arctic	3158068	3183076	-25008	3077808	80260

The deficits to average are primarily in Chukchi, also Barents and Greenland Seas. Surpluses are large in Hudson and Baffin Bays, along with Kara Sea.Eurasian side from East Siberian, through Laptev, Kara and Barents. Baffin Bay is also ahead of average.

Footnote

Some people unhappy with the higher amounts of ice extent shown by MASIE continue to claim that Sea Ice Index is the only dataset that can be used. This is false in fact and in logic. Why should anyone accept that the highest quality picture of ice day to day has no shelf life, that one year’s charts can not be compared with another year? Researchers do this analysis, including Walt Meier in charge of Sea Ice Index. That said, I understand his interest in directing people to use his product rather than one he does not control. As I have said before:

MASIE is rigorous, reliable, serves as calibration for satellite products, and uses modern technologies to continue the long and honorable tradition of naval ice charting. More on this at my post Support MASIE Arctic Ice Dataset