Barents Ice March

The month of March saw rapid ice growth in Barents Sea.   It is in a strategic location at the gateway where warm Atlantic water from the gulf stream flows into the Arctic, 90% of all incoming water. In 31 days, the extent went from 513k km2 to 790k km2, a gain of 278k km2, or 54%.  As the graph below shows, Barents ice today is unusual in the last 12 years.

March is the time of the annual Arctic ice maximum, as the graph below shows.  2018 started slow and peaked later than average, and has held on to March end.

2018 is running about 200k km2 above both 2017 and 2007.  SII shows ~200k km2 less than MASIE.  The ten year average extent is almost 400k km2 higher, entirely due to 2018 lack of ice in Bering Sea. The table below shows ice extents in the various basins at day 90 or March 31.

Region	2018090	Day 90  Average	2018-Ave.	2017090	2018-2017
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	14456459	14842431	-385972	14228992	227467
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1069836	1070178	-342	1070445	-609
(2) Chukchi_Sea	964121	966000	-1879	966006	-1885
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1087137	1085933	1204	1086168	969
(4) Laptev_Sea	897845	896562	1283	897845	0
(5) Kara_Sea	934790	915735	19055	831189	103601
(6) Barents_Sea	790204	652874	137329	525362	264841
(7) Greenland_Sea	533694	669996	-136302	705581	-171886
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	1380945	1452576	-71631	1467334	-86390
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	853109	852782	327	853214	-106
(10) Hudson_Bay	1259857	1252696	7161	1260903	-1047
(11) Central_Arctic	3202650	3236293	-33643	3247995	-45345
(12) Bering_Sea	277469	849159	-571690	702504	-425035
(13) Baltic_Sea	99317	68831	30486	29767	69550
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	1097524	860025	237498	575084	522440