A new NASA study of Arctic sea-ice extent shows a rapid decline in
winter extent over the last few years. The report was just published
in the GRL and there is another one in the works.
Here's the abstract and some links:
Depletion of perennial sea ice in the East Arctic Ocean
S. V. Nghie, Y. Chao, G. Neumann, P. Li, D. K. Perovich, T. Street, P.
Clemente-Colón
Abstract
The extent of perennial sea ice in the East Arctic Ocean (0-180°E)
decreased by nearly one half with an abrupt reduction of 0.95 × 106
km2, while the West Arctic Ocean (0-180°W) had a slight gain of 0.23
× 106 km2 between 2004 and 2005, as observed by satellite
scatterometer data during November-December. The net decrease in
the total perennial ice extent is 0.72 × 106 km2, about the size of
Texas. Perennial ice in the East Arctic Ocean continued to be depleted
with an areal reduction of 70% from October 2005 to April 2006. With
the East Arctic Ocean dominated by seasonal sea ice, a strong summer
melt may open a vast ice-free region with a possible record minimum ice
extent largely confined to the West Arctic Ocean. Simultaneous
scatterometer measurements of sea ice and winds will be crucial for sea
ice monitoring and forecasts.
Citation: Nghiem, S. V., Y. Chao, G. Neumann, P. Li, D. K. Perovich, T.
Street, and P. Clemente-Colón (2006), Depletion of perennial sea ice
in the East Arctic Ocean, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L17501,
doi:10.1029/2006GL027198.
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http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/seaice_telecon.html
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/seaice_meltdown.html
Here's one news report from the AP:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091301562.html
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