Arctic sea ice getting younger and thinner

Arctic sea ice continued to get younger and thinner this century as the region has warmed more than twice the rate as the rest of the planet. When the ice is younger and thinner, it is more likely to completely melt out during the summer, leaving larger areas of darker, open water, which absorb more of the sun's energy, further enhancing the warming.

Older and thicker ice typically does not completely melt out during the warm season, which is also critical to the animals and marine life that live in that part of the world.

The images below show the Arctic ice age every five years starting in late February 2002 and ending in late February 2022.

The loss of the thicker ice (white/light blue) is quite evident throughout the period.

The annual maximum sea ice extent has been reached in the Arctic

The maximum sea ice extent in the Arctic was reached on Feb. 25, which by the way is a whopping 15 days earlier than the 1981-2010 average.

The 2022 maximum sea ice extent ended up as the tenth lowest in the satellite record, which goes back to 1979.

The lowest four maximum Arctic sea ice extents all occurred between 2015 and 2018.

The image below shows the latest sea ice extent compared to the 1981-2010 average and the record low year of 2012. All images courtesy of the NSIDC.

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