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The September Sea Ice Outlook: August Report reports between 4.2 to 5.0 million square kilometers of sea ice in the pan-arctic region. This represents a near-record minimum. All estimates for September are well below the 1979–2007 September climatological mean value of 6.7 million square kilometers. Warm, clear conditions led to significant sea ice melt during the month of July, with some areas of unusually low ice extent and an atmospheric pattern that promotes summer sea ice loss in the Pacific sector of the Arctic. At this point in the sea ice season, the minimum extent will largely be driven by atmospheric conditions, including winds and temperatures. Ice extent in the Greenland and Barents seas for July ranges from below to well below average values. In the eastern Barents, July ice extent is at a record low for this month, surpassing July 2007. Sebastian Gerland and Harvey Goodwin at the Norwegian Polar Institute have contributed to the report with analyzes of sea ice data on the Greenland Sea and Barents Sea, and comparisons of current, previous and mean ice distributions in this area, along with sea ice thickness and landfast ice distributions around Svalbard. The SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook is an international effort to provide a community-wide summary of the expected September arctic sea ice minimum. Monthly reports released throughout the summer synthesize community estimates of the current state and expected minimum of sea ice—at both a pan-arctic and regional scale. To view the report, please go to: http://www.arcus.org/search/seaiceoutlook/2009_outlook/report_august.php Website for Sea Ice Outlook: http://www.arcus.org/search/seaiceoutlook/ Text: Partly taken from the Sea Ice Outlook Report
Teaser photo: Sebastian Gerland / Norwegian Polar Institute [bilde1 {Ice extent (monthly means, July) southern border of 30% ice concentration, in the Greenland Sea/Fram Strait and Barents Sea, based on passive microwave satellite data (red = July 2009, orange = mean July 1999-2008, green = mean July 1979-2008, purple = mean July 1980-1999). The thin blue line indicates the ice extent for June 2007. From contribution by Gerland and Goodwin.}right original]
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