According to satellite observations, Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum extent on Sept. 18, 2022. The ice cover shrank to an area of 4.67 million square kilometers (1.80 million square miles) this year, roughly 1.55 million square kilometers (598,000 square miles) below the 1981-2010 average minimum of 6.22 million square kilometers (2.40 million square miles).
This visualization of sea ice change in the Arctic uses data provided by
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Global Change Observation Mission
1st-Water “SHIZUKU” satellite, which is part of a NASA-led partnership to
operate several Earth-observing satellites. Credits: NASA's Scientific
Visualization Studio
Summer ice extent in and around the Arctic Ocean has declined significantly
since satellites began measuring it consistently in 1978. The past 16 years
(2007 to 2022) have been the lowest 16 minimum extents, with 2022
tying 2017 and 2018 for 10th-lowest in 44 years of observations. The
satellite record is maintained by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which
hosts one of NASA’s Distributed Active Archive Centers.
“This year marks a continuation of the much-reduced sea ice cover since the
1980s,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data
Center. “That is not something that is random variations or chance. It represents
a fundamental
change in the ice cover in response to warming
temperatures.”
Each year, Arctic sea ice melts through the warmer spring and summer months
and usually reaches its minimum extent in September. As cooler weather and
winter darkness sets in, the ice will grow again and reach its maximum extent
around March.
Sea ice extent is defined as the total area in which ice concentration is
at least 15%. This visualization, created at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, shows fluctuations in Arctic sea ice extent
from March through September 2022. The map is based on data acquired by the
Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) instrument on the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency's Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water
“SHIZUKU” (GCOM-W1) satellite.
Banner image: This image visualizes sea ice change in
the Arctic using data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s
Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water “SHIZUKU” satellite, which is part
of a NASA-led partnership to operate several
Earth-observing satellites. The visualization can be accessed at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5030. Credit: NASA's Scientific
Visualization Studio.
By Roberto Molar Candanosa
NASA’s Earth Science
News Team
Source: 2022
Arctic Summer Sea Ice Tied for 10th-Lowest on Record | NASA
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