The summer 2022 melt season had some noteworthy highlights. The animation shows one image per week from May 2 to August 1, and then every other day through August, and every day in September until September 18, the seasonal ice minimum. Images are from sea ice concentration data from NSIDC’s Sea Ice Index. Clink on this animation to view the 2022 seasonal ice retreat. September 2022 compared to previous yearsįigure 4f. The low pressure over Alaska reflects the passage of an extremely strong storm during the middle of the month that caused extensive damage and flooding to the town of Nome and surrounding areas. Averaged sea level pressure for September featured low pressure extending across Eurasia, Alaska, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, with high pressure over the central Arctic Ocean, notably north of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (Figure 2b). Yellows and reds indicate high air pressure blues and purples indicate low pressure.Ĭredit: NSIDC courtesy NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Sciences LaboratoryĪir temperatures during September at the 925 millibar level (approximately 2,500 feet above the surface) were above average over the North American side of the Arctic and near average or below average over most of the Eurasian side (Figure 2a). This plot shows average sea level pressure in the Arctic in millibars for September 2022. The Northwest Passage has started to freeze up, particularly the northern route through Parry Channel, but much of the Canadian Archipelago remained essentially ice free through the end of the month. An open water passage has nevertheless persisted along the Northern Sea Route. A tongue of ice continued to extend southward in the East Siberian Sea, and a portion of ice floes broke away from the main pack ice off the tip of that tongue. Extent was below average in all sectors of the Arctic Ocean, apart from the northern shore of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, where ice is almost invariably pushed up against the coast by winds and ocean currents. This resulted in a tie for the tenth lowest minimum daily extent in the satellite record. Ice extent declined at a faster than average rate from the beginning of the month until the minimum was reached on September 18 (Figure 1b). The annual minimum extent was reached on September 18 and the autumn freeze-up is now well underway. Extent was 1.54 million square kilometers (595,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average and 1.30 million square kilometers (502,000 square miles) above the record minimum set in 2012. The September 2022 average Arctic sea ice extent was 4.87 million square kilometers (1.88 million square miles), tying with 2010 for eleventh lowest in the satellite record (Figure 1a). Sea Ice Index data.Ĭredit: National Snow and Ice Data Center The gray areas around the median line show the interquartile and interdecile ranges of the data. 2022 is shown in blue, 2021 in green, 2020 in orange, 2019 in brown, 2018 in magenta, and 2012 in dashed brown. The graph above shows Arctic sea ice extent as of October 3, 2022, along with daily ice extent data for four previous years and the record low year.
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