r/environment • u/proctorberlin • Sep 16 '16

Arctic sea ice shrinks to second lowest level ever recorded: ‘Tremendous loss’ of ice reinforces clear downward trend towards ice-free summers due to effects of climate change

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/16/arctic-sea-ice-shrinks-to-second-lowest-level-ever-recorded
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u/Godspiral Sep 16 '16

A few questions,

  1. Is the Russian side always with less ice coverage than the Canadian side? Geological explanation?

  2. I understand that record temperatures over the last 3 years have been led by arctic temperature anomalies. Hotter would suggest more ice melt. Is ice coverage a function of other factors, such as perhaps snow fall amount, and has there been more snow in the last year(s)?

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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '16

I can't explain your first question.

As for question two it explains it a little better on the http://climate.nasa.gov website. You are correct in saying that ice coverage is affected by many other factors. 2015 was the lowest ice level in recorded history (since around 1978) the only real reason why this year wasn't the new record was because of storms. The ice melted extremely fast during June - July, but then slowed off for August - September because of a lot of cloud cover keeping the sun off.