Images courtesy of the University of Bremen, Germany.

Arctic sea ice concentration Aug 20th, 2007

Arctic sea ice concentration Aug 19th, 2008, accounting for leap year. (Thanks to Anthony Watts, I would never of thought of the leap year day difference)

Here is what I see...........

1. There is clearly more sea ice on the Siberian side of the Arctic this year compared to last year at this time.

2. But, there is clearly less ice this year compared to last year at this time on the Alaska side of the Arctic.

3. There is in general a higher concentration (purple color) of sea ice this year compared to last year at this time in the region more closely surrounding the pole. But, you can see two wedges of less concentrated ice trying to get close to the pole this year, one thin one on the siberian side and a much bigger wedge on the Alaska side.

ANTARCTIC

Antarctic sea ice concentration Aug 20th, 2007

Antarctic sea ice concentration Aug 19th, 2008 (again, accounting for leap year)

1. The thing that sticks out to me is the reduction in sea ice concentration ( more reds/yellows)compared to last year at this time on the eastern Atlantic side of Antarctica between 60 and 65 degrees south latitude. The general extent of ice looks fairly similar.

Ice extent graphs

Here is the latest sea ice extent graph from the NSIDC. It is still closing in on last year's low, but I think it will come up a bit short of that record. Still, a few more weeks of melting.

Here is the link to the latest Arctic sea ice area graph from the University of Illinois at Champaign. Their version also indicates a continuation of the steady decrease in area. Now it has just about reached 2 million sq/km below normal. Last year at this time it looks like it was about 2.25 million sq/km below normal.