Beginning of Arctic sea ice melting season [1]

The Watchers - 28 March 2013 - by Chillymanjaro

The average extent of sea ice in the Arctic has begun shrinking and will probably reach its minimum extent sometime in mid-September. Arctic sea ice reached this year’s maximum extent on March 15 at 15.13 million square kilometers (5.84 million square miles).

According to National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSDIC) [2], the maximum extent was 733,000 square kilometers below the 1979 to 2000 average of 15.86 million square kilometers, and occurred five days later than the 1979 to 2000 average date of March 10, 2013.

To read the rest of this story, please visit The Watchers [3]