Last year there was a lot of attention on the amount of sea ice in the Arctic, as it hit an all time low this past September.
You can see how this year's melt is progressing by checking out the National Snow and Ice Data Center's website that now gives daily updates to the ice conditions:
NSIDC website
(and a personal confession, maybe I'm a bit obsessed, but I do check the site at least once a day)
As a result of last year's melt, a lot of the ice that is present this year was only formed this past winter. This ice is called first-year ice and typically only about 30% of it makes through the next summer.
If the same melt rate occurs this year then the minimum ice pack will be below last year's record and may even lead to an ice-free north pole!
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Looks like the prediction of an "ice free north pole" has turned out pretty false. The 2008 ice is running 20 to 30% above the 2007 ice and is consistent with previous years.
I don't remember any predictions of an "ice free north pole" for this particular year. All I have seen are predictions for that happening in the next 10 or so years.
Yes the minimum ice content was above last year's minimum, but still the second lowest ever and well below the average over the last 20 years. I don't know how this would be considered "consistent with previous years".
In fact, it is shocking to see just how much the global sea ice area has steadily decreases since satellite measurements began:
"http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/global.daily.ice.area.withtrend.jpg>
href="http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/global.daily.ice.area.withtrend.jpg>
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