End-May Arctic Ice Extent Second-Lowest On Record; May Area 436,000 sm Below Average

[hatrack]

May saw above average temperatures over nearly all of the Arctic Ocean, Baffin Bay, and Greenland. Early sea ice retreat in the Bering Sea extended into the southern Chukchi Sea. Northern Baffin Bay and the Nares Strait have low ice cover. By month’s end, open water extended along the northeastern Alaskan and northwestern Canadian coasts, all well ahead of schedule. However, this was partly balanced by slower-than-average ice loss in the Barents Sea. At the end of May, Arctic sea ice daily extent stood at second lowest in the 40-year satellite record.









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https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Farewell to Exit Glacier in Alaska's Kenai Mountains:

Link to tweet

[NickB79]

2. It's BARELY above 2012's record

With all the young ice up there now, I bet we'll break that record by year's end.

[hatrack]

3. It's been well below 2012 levels all year, except for about the past three weeks

And we're still a bit less than three months to annual minimum. Should be interesting.