From Science Matters

By Ron Clutz

The animation shows growing Arctic ice extents over the last two weeks. Of course central Arctic basins are frozen solid, and the additions are visible on both the Atlantic side (right) and the Pacific (left).

The graph below shows March daily ice extents for 2024 compared to 18 year averages, and some years of note.

The black line shows during March on average Arctic ice extents nearly reach 15 Wadhams (15M km2) on Day 62, March 2.  A slow decline is normal until Day 75, March 15.  However, that period in 2024 saw Arctic ice increase 430k km2, nearly half a Wadham.  Note also that this year ice extents rose above 15M already in February, and now in March ice has been well above that threshold for the last week.  2006 was the first year in this dataset and on Day 75 was 704k km2 less than yesterday.  As usual in transitional months like March and September SII (Sea Ice Index) shows a similar pattern with generally lower extents.

Why is this important?  All the claims of global climate emergency depend on dangerously higher temperatures, lower sea ice, and rising sea levels.  The lack of additional warming prior to 2023 El Nino is documented in a post UAH January 2024: Ocean Warm, Land Cooling.

The lack of acceleration in sea levels along coastlines has been discussed also.  See USCS Warnings of Coastal Flooding

Also, a longer term perspective is informative:

The table below shows the distribution of Sea Ice on day 75 across the Arctic Regions, on average, this year and 2006.

Region	2024075	Day 75 Ave	2024-Ave.	2006075	2024-2006
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	15124987	14895040	229947	14420679	704309
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1070983	1070317	667	1069711	1273
(2) Chukchi_Sea	966006	965891	115	964227	1779
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1087137	1087110	27	1086702	435
(4) Laptev_Sea	897845	897837	8	897773	71
(5) Kara_Sea	935023	920555	14469	921428	13595
(6) Barents_Sea	671826	643180	28646	646196	25630
(7) Greenland_Sea	771468	621747	149721	613161	158308
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	1336897	1529678	-192781	1134817	202080
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	854860	853214	1646	852715	2145
(10) Hudson_Bay	1260903	1258048	2855	1251360	9543
(11) Central_Arctic	3243865	3222218	21647	3244243	-378
(12) Bering_Sea	723227	735481	-12254	635252	87975
(13) Baltic_Sea	78741	80321	-1580	175063	-96322
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	1215262	990338	224924	874372	340890

The overall surplus to average is 230k km2, (2%).  The only major deficit is in Baffin Bay, more than offset by surpluses in Okhotsk and Greenland seas.  Everywhere else is maxed out.

Illustration by Eleanor Lutz shows Earth’s seasonal climate changes. If played in full screen, the four corners present views from top, bottom and sides. It is a visual representation of scientific datasets measuring Arctic ice extents.