Arctic Sea Ice Younger than Normal

In the Arctic, sea ice extent fluctuates with the seasons. It reaches its peak extent in March, near the end of Northern Hemisphere winter, and its minimum extent in September, at the end of the summer thaw. In September 2007, Arctic sea ice extent was the smallest area on record since satellites began collecting measurements about 30 years ago.

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NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on data from Charles Fowler, James Maslanik, Sheldon Drobot, and William Emery, Arctic Regional Ice Forecasting System, University of Colorado-Boulder. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.

Published March 25, 2008

Source:

DMSP > SSM/I