Facts About the Arctic in April 2026

In early April JAXA Arctic sea ice extent is 3rd lowest for the date, albeit in a “statistical tie” with last year:

The Alfred Wegener Institute’s regional extent graphs reveal an intriguing divergence on the Pacific periphery, where sea ice extent in the Sea of Okhotsk is at an all time low for the date in the AMSR2 record:

On the other hand extent in the Bering Sea is close to an all time high:

On the Atlantic periphery extent is less extreme, although there is currently open water north of Svalbard:

Looking at the third dimension, here is the AWI’s CryoSat-2/Sentinel 3/SMOS Arctic sea ice thickness map at the end of March:

Here too is the associated volume graph:

Note that thickness and hence volume is likely to be biased high on the Atlantic side of the Arctic due to continuous radio frequency interference affecting SMOS data:

Watch this space!

1 thought on “Facts About the Arctic in April 2026

  1. (Using CryoSat daily volume deltas to estimate current month Piomas)

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