Arctic Ice May Set Record 30-Year Low Levels Again This Year

Thursday, August 28, 2008 - 11:35 in Earth & Climate

Observations of ice coverage in the Arctic from space began 30 years ago so it's inflammatory to talk about record lows in such a short period of time but two consecutive years near this 'record' still merit some concern. Because the extent of ice cover is usually at its lowest about mid-September, this year's minimum could still fall and set another record low. Envisat observations from mid-August depict that a new record of low sea-ice coverage could be reached in a matter of weeks. The animation above is a series of mosaics of the Arctic Ocean created from images acquired between early June and mid-August 2008 from the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument aboard Envisat. The dark grey colour represents ice-free areas while blue represents areas covered with sea ice. Read More...

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