Nevertheless, the daily ice loss rate of 72,100 square kilometers (27,800 square miles) per day was faster than the 1981 to 2010 average of 57,200 square kilometers (22,100 square miles) per day.Īt month’s end, the ice edge remained considerably farther north than average in the Beaufort, Chukchi and East Siberian Seas, while in the Kara and Barents Seas the ice edge was near its typical location, albeit farther north in a few scattered regions.

As of the end of August, 2.24 million square kilometers (860,000 square miles) of sea ice was lost in the Arctic.Īs is typical during the latter half of August, the pace of ice loss slowed (Figure 1b). Extent was 1.63 million square kilometers (629,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 reference period and 850,000 square kilometers (328,000 square miles) above the previous record low for the month set in 2012.

Sea Ice Index data.Ĭredit: National Snow and Ice Data CenterĪugust Arctic sea ice extent averaged 5.57 million square kilometers (2.15 million square miles), or the eighth lowest in the 45-year satellite record (Figure 1a). The gray areas around the median line show the interquartile and interdecile ranges of the data. 2023 is shown in blue, 2022 in green, 2021 in orange, 2020 in brown, 2019 in magenta, and 2012 in dashed brown.

The graph above shows Arctic sea ice extent as of September 4, 2023, along with daily ice extent data for four previous years and the record low year.

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