No Arctic sea ice lost in 11 years

Dear editor: Readers may be surprised to know there has been no loss of Arctic sea ice in the last 11 years.

Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows the minimum summer Arctic sea ice extent in 2018 was greater than in 2007.

The 2018 minimum sea ice extent of 4.553 million sq, km was recorded on Sept.16. The 2018 minimum extent is 406,000 sq km (9.8 per cent) greater than the minimum sea ice extent of 4.147 million sq km recorded on Sept. 14, 2007.

As well, the 2018 minimum extent is 1.213 million sq, km (36 per cent) greater than the minimum of 3.34 million sq km recorded on Sept. 16, 2012.

2018 is not an aberration. In nine of the last 11 years, the minimum Arctic sea ice extent has been greater than 2007.

Only 2012 has been lower, 2016 was the same as 2007.

To put the sea ice extent numbers in perspective, the 2018 minimum extent of 4.553 million sq km is greater than the combined surface areas of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador.

A few years ago the United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change used the word “hiatus” to refer to a lack of surface warming since 1998. The data for the last 11 years suggests there is now an Arctic sea ice hiatus.