Peak Arctic ice sheet shrinks by an extreme area

The maximum extent of Arctic ice in the Arctic Ocean was 9.07 million km² this year.

The data was provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder , USA.Notably, ocean ice cover as of March 2023 is almost 644,000 km² less than it was between  1981 and 2010  .This year's decline has been extreme and equivalent to the area of Egypt, according toScientists.

This year, the maximum extent of Arctic ice was the fifth largest since satellite observations began in 1979 .

Winter Arctic ice usually covers the largest expanse of the ocean in March, and then begins toThe    lowest peak of coverage was in 2017 , when the ice stretched for 8.94 million km² before it began to shrink.Since that year, five of the lowest maximum extents have occurred.

According to scientists, the greatest warming in the Arctic appears to be occurring on the Atlantic side of the Arctic Ocean near the Barents Sea.Although the reasons are still being studied, it seems that warm water from the Atlantic is playingin addition to the impact of atmospheric warming.

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