Arctic Ice Peak

The extent of sea ice in the Arctic appears to have peaked for the year, at 14.4 M square-kilometers.

How does this compare to previous years?

It's a relatively early peak, and lower than last year's, but higher than 2004-2007.

(I'm using data from the ARC-JAXA Information System (IJIS) from the International Arctic Research Center in corporation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Advanced Earth Science and Technology Organization of Japan.)


(click to enlarge).

Here's the full picture, from IARC-JAXA:

(click to enlarge).

Bottom line? The Arctic is still relatively cool compared to the last half-dozen years, but warmer than last year, as is also seen in the NASA GISS and Hadley surface measurements.