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Average extent of arctic sea ice in March and September 1979-2007

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Figure Created 12 Nov 2009 Published 12 Nov 2009 Last modified 29 Nov 2012

1 min read

Topics: Climate change mitigation ,

Arctic sea ice grows to its greatest yearly size in March and melts to its lowest size in September

https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/average-extent-of-arctic-sea-ice-in-march-and-september-1979-2007/figure-5-14-climate-change-2008-ice-extent.eps/image_large

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Metadata

Last upload:: 30 Sep 2008
Temporal coverage:: 1979-2007
Tags:: climate change , ice , sea , arctic region
Geographic coverage:: Arctic
Rights:: Access is managed by the owner mentioned below. Please contact the owner for more information about their data policy.
Owners:: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
Figure type:: Graph

Additional information

The figure shows the average ice extents for these two months after 1979. The linear trend for March indicates that the Arctic is losing an average of 44 000 km2 of ice per year in winter. The corresponding value for September and summer is 72 000 km2.

Geographical coverage: Arctic and the North pole

Related content

Data references

Sea ice index The Sea Ice Index provides a quick look at sea ice changes in spatial and historical context and gives a consistent, up-to-date source of sea ice extent and sea ice concentration values and images. The NSIDC Near-Real-Time DMSP SSM/I Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations and the Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SSMR and DMSP SSM/I Passive Microwave Data data sets are used to generate the monthly records of sea ice extent and sea ice concentration for the Arctic and Antarctica from satellite passive microwave data. Data files tabulate monthly mean extent and area, in millions of square kilometers, by year for a given month. Plots of monthly sea ice extent anomalies with trend lines and significance intervals are available. Monthly images show sea ice extent (with an outline of the median extent for that month for comparison), sea ice concentration, trends in sea ice concentration, and anomalies in sea ice concentration. Anomalies and median extent are calculated using a reference period of 1979 through 2000.

Used in indicators

Used in publications

Impacts of Europe's changing climate - 2008 indicator-based assessment

Impacts of Europe's changing climate - 2008 indicator-based assessment This report is an update and extension of the 2004 EEA Report Impacts of Europe's changing climate. The main part of this report summarises the relevance, past trends and future projections for about 40 indicators (from 22 in the 2004 report). The report also addresses adaptation and the economics of climate change impacts and adaptation strategies and policies, and data availability and uncertainty.

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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/average-extent-of-arctic-sea-ice-in-march-and-september-1979-2007 or scan the QR code.

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Filed under: climate change, ice, sea, arctic region

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