Ice, Ice, Baby

Sea ice area continues to plummet in the Arctic Ocean, and paths are again open (at least visually) on both Russian and Canadian sides. Areal extent is about 400,000 km^2 less than previous record lows and could go lower in the next two or three weeks. The most remarkable feature - to my uneducated eye - of this years melt is the enormous collapse of the Arctic Basin ice facing the Kara Sea. It seems to be rotting from the edges and the inside, like some huge blowtorch had been turned on it, and the melt goes to the very deep North.

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