Arctic sea ice extent is 3rd lowest ever

The good news: Arctic sea ice cover appears to have reached its low for the summer, and there’s more of it than there was in the record-breaking low years of 2007 and 2008.

The bad news: the extent of sea ice is still the third-lowest ever since satellite measurements began in 1979.

This year’s September minimum extent is still significantly below the long-term average and well outside the range of natural climate variability, according to Walt Meier, a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC). The rapid changes in the Arctic are being blamed on rising temperatures caused by ever-growing concentrations of man-made carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere.

While there’s a bit more ice left this year than in the record-breaking years, thanks to atmospheric circulation patterns that helped it spread out more in August, researchers don’t view it as a sign of recovery. Most of the Arctic sea ice remaining in September is thin, first- or second-year ice, rather than thicker, multi-year ice that used to dominate the region, Meier said. This year’s minimum is also well below — by some 620,000 square miles — the average minimum measured between 1979 and 200.

“We are still seeing a downward trend that appears to be heading toward ice-free Arctic summers,” Meier said.

Thanks to the dwindling sea ice cover, two ships operated by Germany’s Beluga Group recently completed a journey across Arctic waters from Korea to Rotterdam without the aid of icebreakers. The trip saved some 4,000 miles compared to the conventional route along the southern coast of Asia and through the Suez Canal … and saved the Beluga Group about £180,000 in costs per ship.

Which likely means we’ll be seeing a lot more Belugas of the commercial variety making their way through Arctic waters in summers to come.