Sea and Freshwater Ice Assessments

2014/2015 Arctic Winter Sea Ice


Jeff Key
03 May 2015

Arctic sea ice cover reached its maximum extent this winter on 25 February 2015. The peak extent is usually reached in mid-March, so this maximum is two weeks early. More importantly, the maximum extent this winter is 425,000 square miles (1.10 million square kilometers) smaller than normal (NSIDC). The maximum February 2015 extent was 5.61 million square miles (14.54 million square kilometers), compared to its recent winter maximum average of 6.04 million square miles (15.64 million square kilometers). This is the smallest winter ice extent since satellite records began in 1979.


Figure 1: NASA video showing 2014/2015 Arctic sea ice extent.
Figure 2
Figure 2: Winter sea ice in the Arctic through 18 March 2015 compared to previous winters. Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

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