Antarctic Sea Ice has hit it’s 23rd daily record for the year. (Thanks to Sunshine Hours for tracking these things.)
2013 is the red line. (click to enlarge)
In terms of the number of daily records in a year, the Big Year for sea-ice was 2008 where records occurred on 125 days. 2010 was nearly as “big” when records occurred on 118 days. 2013 is currently in fifth spot. If the tally rises to 28 records this year, it will leap to third place.
Not that any of this matters, of course.
“Sea ice in the Arctic and around Antarctica responds directly to climate change and may, if properly monitored, become increasingly important for detecting climate change.”
IPCC Third Assessment Report, Cryosphere Processes, Box 7.1
“The sea-ice albedo effect is an important contributor to the amplification of projected warming at high latitudes.”
IPCC Third Assessment Report, WG1, 7.5 Cryosphere Processes and Feedbacks, Box 7.1
The impacts of this climate change in the polar regions over the next 100 years will exceed the impacts forecast for many other regions and will produce feedbacks that will have globally significant consequences.
IPCC Assessment Report 4, WG 2, Chapter 15
Only the trends count. And on that the Antarctic sea ice extent is not shrinking. An indicator of climate change maybe?
…
What happened to Polar Amplification?