June Sea Ice Area and Melt Ponding

I've previously blogged about the anomaly cliff in CT Area during June and its relationship with melt ponding. This anomaly drop is also seen in Wipneus's area and extent calculations based on gridded NSIDC data, it is not peculiar to Cryosphere Today Area.

However are the recent June anomaly cliffs simply due to spread of melt ponding, or is there something else going on?

PIOMAS July 2014

PIOMAS data is now out and the picture of another year of muted melt is confirmed. As of this June the net volume impact of the 2010 volume loss event has been wiped out. However this does not equate to a recovery of thickness or volume across the Arctic. Those still holding out for a crash this year are flogging a dead horse, those expecting a crash by around 2016 are walking towards the same horse, whip in hand.

The regional PIOMAS Data and Thickness Plots that I produce are now updated. See the top right panel on the blog for links.

July 2014 Status

July continues a year of moderate loss compared to the long term average. 2014 is very likely to repeat the high extent in 2013.