Will this year match last summer’s record-low sea ice extent? Only time will tell

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Since reaching its maximum extent in mid-March, Arctic sea ice has closely tracked the 2012 extent, which ended up at an all-time record low for the satellite era, going back to 1979.

In an early June update, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that May’s average daily decline was about 14,100 square miles per day, slower than the 1979 to 2000 average of  17,000 square miles per day.

Overall, the May extent was the 10th-lowest during the satellite observation era, and about 151,000 square miles above the record low of 4.95 million square miles, set in 2011.