There is more Antarctic sea ice now (16.6 million km. sq.) than there was during August 1966, but experts say it hasn’t been this low during August in 7.5 million years.
“in August 1966 the maximum sea ice extent fell to 15.9×10 km ± 0.3×10 km . This is more than 1.5×10 km below the passive microwave record of 17.5×10 km set in September of 1986. This variation between 1964 and 1966 represents a change of maximum sea ice of over 3×10 km in just two years”
Anomalous Variability in Antarctic Sea Ice Extents During the 1960s
h/t Ulric Lyons.
osisaf_sh_sie_daily-2years.png (1303×943)
ABC News says this is a five sigma event which occurs once every 7.5 million years.
“He said vast regions of the Antarctic coastline were ice free for the first time in the observational record.
“To say unprecedented isn’t strong enough,” Dr Doddridge said.
“For those of you who are interested in statistics, this is a five-sigma event. So it’s five standard deviations beyond the mean. Which means that if nothing had changed, we’d expect to see a winter like this about once every 7.5 million years.”
