Arctic ice pack

NOAA projected Arctic changes
This animation shows the Arctic Ocean melt during the summer of 2011.
This visual shows the Arctic sea ice change and the corresponding absorbed solar radiation change during June, July, and August from 2000 through 2014.

The Arctic ice pack is the sea ice cover of the Arctic Ocean and its vicinity. The Arctic ice pack undergoes a regular seasonal cycle in which ice melts in spring and summer, reaches a minimum around mid-September, then increases during fall and winter. Summer ice cover in the Arctic is about 50% of winter cover.[1] Some of the ice survives from one year to the next. Currently, 28% of Arctic basin sea ice is multi-year ice,[2] thicker than seasonal ice: up to 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft) thick over large areas, with ridges up to 20 m (65.6 ft) thick. Besides the regular seasonal cycle there has been an underlying trend of declining sea ice in the Arctic in recent decades as well.

  1. ^ Polar Sea Ice Cap and Snow – Cryosphere Today Archived 2011-02-23 at the Wayback Machine, University of Illinois
  2. ^ "Arctic sea ice extent at maximum below average, thin | Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis". 7 April 2008.