Arctic/Antarctic Sea Ice 2021/22

As of September 15, Arctic sea ice extent stood at 4.73 million square kilometers (1.83 million square miles), placing it tenth lowest in the satellite record for the date. While extent continues to decline as of this post, the seasonal minimum is likely to occur soon, depending on how much heat remains in the upper ocean and on winds, which can compact the ice cover or spread it out. If the winds push the ice poleward, this may further reduce the total extent. Nevertheless, the seasonal minimum extent promises to be one of the highest of the past decade—only 2013, 2014, and 2018 are currently tracking above the 2021 sea ice extent.

It has been an odd summer. While fairly cool and stormy summer conditions limited summer melt, as discussed in our earlier post, the amount of multiyear ice is at a record low, roughly one-fourth of the amount seen in the early 1980s. Ice loss the first two weeks of September primarily occurred in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, and to a lesser extent also surrounding Severnaya Zemlya. As seen in Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR-2) imagery (Figure 1b), areas of low concentration ice persist in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas; how much of this ice melts away largely depends on ocean heat. Satellite mapping of sea surface temperatures shows much of the open ocean surrounding the low ice concentration area is already near the freezing point. By contrast, the compact, well-defined ice edge along most of the Russian side of the Arctic Ocean indicates that freezing is already underway in this area.

Air temperatures at the 925 hPa level (about 2,500 feet above the surface) as assessed over the first 13 days of September were near average over most of the Arctic Ocean. Temperatures from 2 to 4 degrees Celsius (4 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit) above average were the rule along the coasts of the Kara and Laptev Seas (Figure 2a). In sharp contrast to the persistent pattern of low pressure over the Arctic Ocean characterizing this summer, the first 13 days of September saw high average air pressure (Figure 2b).