NSIDC reports – At the end of the summer 2010, under 15% of the ice remaining the Arctic was more than two years old, compared to 50 to 60% during the 1980s.
Ohhh that sounds bad. But wait a minute ……. there is more to this story.
Note the large amount of 1-2 year old ice this year. Guess what? The ice is going to have a birthday this winter and become one year older. If all the >1 year old ice survives the winter, there will be more than 40% >2 year old ice in the spring.
That won’t happen, but barring unusual winds this winter – the amount of >2 year old ice will increase significantly.
And yet sea ice extent continues to decline.
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/n_plot_hires.png
Happy Birthday.