Global: Sea-Ice Concentration/Extent

NOTE: Trends and variability in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are affected by very different atmospheric/oceanic/ice processes and are in opposite seasons! Caution is advised for assessing any statistics of global sea ice levels (i.e., combined Arctic and Antarctic). Their individual seasonal cycles can be found on my Arctic and Antarctic sea ice pages.

Current year’s sea ice extent anomalies for the Arctic and Antarctic (NSIDC, DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS F-18). Departure from average (anomaly) considers a 1981-2010 climatology (updated 3/27/2023).
Global sea ice extent (Arctic + Antarctic) for each year from 1979 to 2023 (satellite-era; NSIDC, DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS). 2016 is highlighted with a yellow line. 2023 is shown using a red line (updated 3/27/2023).
Global sea ice extent anomalies (Arctic + Antarctic) for each year from 1979 to 2023 (satellite-era; NSIDC, DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS). Anomalies are calculated using a 5-day running mean from a climatological baseline of 1981-2010. 2016 is shown with a yellow line. 2023 is shown using a red line (updated 3/27/2023).

My visualizations:

  • Arctic Climate Seasonality and Variability
  • Arctic Sea Ice Extent and Concentration
  • Arctic Sea Ice Volume and Thickness
  • Arctic Temperatures
  • Antarctic Sea Ice Extent and Concentration
  • Climate Change Indicators
  • Climate model projections compared to observations in the Arctic
  • Global Sea Ice Extent and Concentration
  • Polar Climate Change Figures
  • Climate Viz of the Month

    • My related research

    [13] Timmermans, M.-L. and Z.M. Labe (2022). Sea surface temperature [in “Arctic Report Card 2022”], NOAA, DOI:10.25923/p493-2548
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Press Release]

    [12] Timmermans, M.-L. and Z.M. Labe (2022). [The Arctic] Sea surface temperature [in “State of the Climate in 2021”]. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., DOI:10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0082.1
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Press Release]

    [11] Labe, Z.M. and E.A. Barnes (2022), Comparison of climate model large ensembles with observations in the Arctic using simple neural networks. Earth and Space Science, DOI:10.1029/2022EA002348
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Plain Language Summary]

    [10] Timmermans, M.-L. and Z.M. Labe (2021). Sea surface temperature [in “Arctic Report Card 2021”], NOAA, DOI:10.25923/2y8r-0e49
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Press Release]

    [9] Timmermans, M.-L. and Z.M. Labe (2021). [The Arctic] Sea surface temperature [in “State of the Climate in 2020”]. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., DOI:10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0086.1
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Press Release]

    [8] Peings, Y., Z.M. Labe, and G. Magnusdottir (2021), Are 100 ensemble members enough to capture the remote atmospheric response to +2°C Arctic sea ice loss? Journal of Climate, DOI:10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0613.1
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Plain Language Summary][CLIVAR Research Highlight]

    [7] Timmermans, M.-L. and Z.M. Labe (2020). Sea surface temperature [in “Arctic Report Card 2020”], NOAA, DOI:10.25923/v0fs-m920
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Press Release]

    [6] Timmermans, M.-L., Z.M. Labe, and C. Ladd (2020). [The Arctic] Sea surface temperature [in “State of the Climate in 2019”], Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., DOI:10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0086.1
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Press Release]

    [5] Labe, Z.M., Y. Peings, and G. Magnusdottir (2020). Warm Arctic, cold Siberia pattern: role of full Arctic amplification versus sea ice loss alone, Geophysical Research Letters, DOI:10.1029/2020GL088583
    [HTML][BibTeX]
    [Plain Language Summary][CBS News][Science Magazine][The Washington Post]

    [4] Thoman, R.L., U. Bhatt, P. Bieniek, B. Brettschneider, M. Brubaker, S. Danielson, Z.M. Labe, R. Lader, W. Meier, G. Sheffield, and J. Walsh (2020): The record low Bering Sea ice extent in 2018: Context, impacts and an assessment of the role of anthropogenic climate change [in “Explaining Extreme Events of 2018 from a Climate Perspective”]. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc, DOI:10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0175.1
    [HTML][BibTeX][Code]
    [Press Release]

    [3] Labe, Z.M., Y. Peings, and G. Magnusdottir (2019). The effect of QBO phase on the atmospheric response to projected Arctic sea ice loss in early winter, Geophysical Research Letters, DOI:10.1029/2019GL083095
    [HTML][BibTeX]
    [Plain Language Summary]

    [2] Labe, Z.M., Y. Peings, and G. Magnusdottir (2018), Contributions of ice thickness to the atmospheric response from projected Arctic sea ice loss, Geophysical Research Letters, DOI:10.1029/2018GL078158
    [HTML][BibTeX]
    [Plain Language Summary][Arctic Today]

    [1] Labe, Z.M., G. Magnusdottir, and H.S. Stern (2018), Variability of Arctic sea ice thickness using PIOMAS and the CESM Large Ensemble, Journal of Climate, DOI:10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0436.1
    [HTML][BibTeX]
    [Plain Language Summary]

    All of the Python code used to generate these figures are available from my GitHub account. Most scripts use data sets that are generated via ftp retrieval.

    *These figures may be freely distributed (with credit). Information about the data can be found on my references page and methods page.