[Music] Narrator: Barring any late season surges,
we can now say that Arctic sea ice reached its peak extent for this
year’s freeze cycle on Feb. 25th. It’s the smallest winter
maximum coverage since we began consistently tracking the ice pack
with satellites in 1979, and the second earliest peak as well.
Much of the winter ice pack consists of thin ice that will melt in the summer,
and scientists say that while this winter did set a new record,
trends in the summer minimum extent are more interesting scientifically and a better
indicator of climate change.Here we see in yellow
where the ice extent is low near the coasts of Russia and Alaska, or more precisely,
the difference between this year’s ice pack and the average maximum
coverage from the last 35 years.
[music]