We’re well into winter, and the Arctic Ocean is plunged into cold and darkness. THere is always ice in the winter. The summer ice lows are poorly forecast by what is going on in January, but for what its worth, here is the January average of Arctic sea ice extent, compared to previous Januaries since we started keeping satellite records.

Including 2014, sea ice extent for January is declining at a rate of 3.2% per decade relative to the 1981 to 2012 average, or at a rate of 47,800 square kilometers (18,500 square miles) per year. January 2014 is the fourth lowest extent in the satellite record, behind 2005, 2006, and the record low January 2011.

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/