Two steps forward, one step back…

There’s still almost two weeks before the expected September minimum ice date in the arctic, but it is already pretty clear that the 2012 record will not be broken this year. Still, I don’t think the overall trends of the last thirty years of satellite ice measurements are in any doubt. You can see for yourself.

It will be interesting to see if next year’s September minimum will have any effect on the mid-term elections.

http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm

The seasonal decline of extent through the month of August was slightly above average at 56,400 square kilometers (21,800 square miles) per day, but more than a third slower than the record decline rate in August 2012. This year’s August extent was the sixth lowest in the 1979 to 2013 satellite record.

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/