Category Archives: Volume

The 2021 Maximum Arctic Sea Ice Volume

March 3, 2021VolumeAIP, ASCAT, CryoSat-2, East Siberian Sea, Eunice Foote, Greenland, PIOMAS, Thickness, University of Washington, VolumeJim Hunt

If the 2021 maximum Arctic sea ice extent is more your thing then please see the previous article:

“The 2021 Maximum Arctic Sea Ice Extent“

Maximum volume is still several weeks away, but let’s first of all take a look at the PIOMAS modelled volume numbers for February. They are not yet available via the University of Washington’s Polar Science Center web site, but Wipneus has once again crunched the gridded thickness numbers which are already available. Here is what they reveal:

As you can see, it will be a big surprise if the 2021 volume maximum occurs in March rather than April, and 2021 is currently 3rd lowest for the date, behind 2017 and 2018. For completeness here too is the PIOMAS thickness map for the end of February:

This does contain some surprises, such as an area of thick ice along the shore of the East Siberian Sea, but no such thing along the north coast of Greenland, the traditional bastion of “the thickest ice in the Arctic Ocean”.

The “measured” Arctic sea ice volume calculated from CryoSat-2 and SMOS thickness data has also updated to February 28th:

Note that the “near real time” figures graphed in blue will almost certainly be revised upwards when the “reanalysed” data is released in a couple of weeks. Equally certainly they will be “lowest for the date” in the 11 year record.

Here also is the CS2/SMOS thickness map for February 28th for comparison purposes:

Facts About the Arctic in July 2019

July 6, 2019VolumePIOMAS, VolumeJim Hunt

The June PIOMAS Arctic sea ice gridded thickness numbers have been released. Here once again is Wipneus’ visualisation thereof:

The Arctic wide volume graph does not make a pretty sight:

The recent rapid rate of decline has continued through the second half of June and PIOMAS modelled volume is now lowest for the date in the Polar Science Center’s records.

Facts About the Arctic in June 2019

June 3, 2019VolumeAMSR2, Cyclone, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, Lincoln Sea, MODIS, NSR, NWP, PIOMAS, VIIRS, Vilkitsky StraitJim Hunt

In my humble opinion summer in the Arctic summer starts on June 1st, so let’s check the current sea ice situation in the once frozen North. For details of the preconditioning of the ice during the Arctic spring see “Melt Pond May“, where I concluded that:

Facts About the Arctic in April 2019

April 2, 2019VolumeAMSR2, Axel Schweiger, CryoSat-2, DMI, Hamburg Uni, JAXA, NSIDC, PIOMAS, SMOS, Tony Heller, WipneusJim Hunt

At the beginning of April 2019 all the assorted Arctic sea ice extent metrics are at their respective lowest levels for the date in the satellite record. Just for a change let’s start with the JAXA/ViSHOP graph for April 1st, based on AMSR2 data:

Facts About the Arctic in March 2019

March 20, 2019VolumeAMSR2, CryoSat-2, FMI, Hamburg Uni, Lincoln Sea, Nares Strait, PIOMAS, PolarView, SMOS, Waves, WaveWatch, WipneusJim Hunt

Wipneus has recently updated the mid month PIOMAS gridded thickness map, which looks like this:

The accompanying PIOMAS volume graph currently shows 2019 in seventh place:

We now have a new thickness metric to peruse each month. Here’s the gridded merged CryoSat-2/SMOS thickness data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute:

Facts About the Arctic in October 2018

October 21, 2018VolumeArea, ASIF, CPOM, CryoSat-2, DMI, Extent, FDD, Hamburg Uni, JAXA, PIOMAS, SMOS, Volume, Wandel Sea, WipneusJim Hunt

A somewhat belated start to our October 2018 coverage, but firstly please take a look at this graph:

Following a remarkably sluggish refreeze this year JAXA extent is currently the lowest for the date since their records began. Meanwhile Wipneus has just released his mid month PIOMAS volume update on the Arctic Sea Ice Forum:

Facts About the Arctic in April 2018

April 3, 2018VolumeCryoSat-2, Extent, JAXA, NSIDC, PIOMAS, SMOS, Thickness, VolumeJim Hunt

First of all Wipneus has been very quick off the mark this month with his PIOMAS gridded thickness map. Here is what it reveals for the last day of March:

Here too is the latest PIOMAS volume graph:

Facts About the Arctic in February 2018

February 3, 2018VolumeAMSR2, Area, Extent, NSIDC, PIOMAS, Temperature, Thickness, Volume, Waves, WipneusJim Hunt

Whilst the official PIOMAS volume figures for January have yet to be released Wipneus has worked his usual magic on the gridded thickness numbers to reveal:

not to mention the calculated volume:

The 2017/18 Festive Season in the Arctic

December 7, 2017VolumeASIF, Axel Schweiger, Chukchi Sea, CryoSat-2, DMI, Ivana Cvijanovic, NSIDC, PIOMAS, Rebecca Woodgate, SMOS, Thickness, Volume, WipneusJim Hunt

Christmas is coming, and Santa’s secret summer swimming pool has frozen over once again. However the same can’t be said for the Chukchi Sea! More on that in due course, but first let’s take a look at the PIOMAS volume graph at the end of November, courtesy of the wondrous Wipneus on the Arctic Sea Ice Forum:

Facts About the Arctic in August 2017

August 4, 2017VolumeAMSR2, Anthony Watts, Area, Concentration, ECMWF, Extent, GFS, McClintock Channel, NSR, NWP, O-Buoy, PIOMAS, SAR, Sentinel, Volume, WavesJim Hunt

What seems likely to be the most interesting period of the 2017 Arctic sea ice melting season is upon us! The PIOMAS gridded data hasn’t been released yet, but the overall volume numbers reveal that 2017 has now relinquished its “lowest ever” position to 2012. Here’s Wipneus’ graph of the volume data:

The Great White Con

Putting the Arctic sea ice record straight