2008 has many, many records for most ice extent for a day in the early part of the year.
2013 managed to set records 3 times and then was just slightly below 2008 for weeks.
Well, on day 69 2013 caught up to 2008, and finally set its 4th record for the day.
Antarctic Sea Ice Minimum Trend is climbing at 140,000 sq km per decade!
After declaring Antarctic had the 2nd highest minimum of all time I thought I should graph the trend.
Wow. At this rate Antarctic Sea Ice minimum will just keep growing and growing until you can’t get near Antarctica by ship at all! (probably not but it is fun to claim).
Update: See the trend here.
It is very likely 2013 will go down in the history books as having the 2nd highest Antarctic sea ice minimum of all time. In 2013 there was 1.4 million sq km more sea ice than there was in 1997 at minimum.
Top 6 Minimum Extents:
| Year | Day | Minimum Extent |
| 2008 | 51 | 3.69176 |
| 2013 | 50 | 3.6504 |
| 2003 | 48 | 3.6257 |
| 2001 | 50 | 3.44094 |
| 1995 | 55 | 3.32988 |
| 2004 | 51 | 3.25927 |
Lowest 6 Minimums:
| Year | Day | Minimum_Extent |
| 1997 | 58 | 2.26415 |
| 1993 | 50 | 2.28078 |
| 1984 | 58 | 2.38292 |
| 2006 | 51 | 2.4866 |
| 1992 | 54 | 2.49238 |
| 1980 | 57 | 2.52686 |
Antarctic Sea Ice Extent day 46 was the 3rd record for most ice on this day in 2013. Day 43 and 45 were also records.
There is a fair chance that day for 44 was the minimum for 2013, but we won’t know for a few days. 2008 (purple) dipped after appearing to hit minimum.
If day 44 was the minimum, it would be the 2nd earliest minimum ever (after 1993 day 43) and the highest minimum ever.
Day 45 – Valentines Day – saw another Antarctic Sea Ice Record for the day of 3.75 million sq km.
Day 44, so far, is the lowest value for the year and still higher than the all-time highest minimum of 3.69176 which occurred on day 51 in 2008.
UPDATE 2: And Another.
UPDATE: Another record.
Antarctic Sea Ice Extent set a record on day 43 (Feb 12 2013) for most ever on this day. at 3.80037 million sq km.
The old record was in 2008. The record for most ice ever at minimum was also in 2008. 3.69176 million sq km. There is a decent chance that record will be broken.
UPDATE: The next day set a record.
Antarctic Sea Ice on day 42 (Feb 11 2013) is 24% above average (770,000 sq km) and and only 8300 sq km short of a record.
There is a chance of an all-time record of the highest minimum ever in the coming days. The record is from 2008 – 3.69176 million sq km – on day 51.
Antarctic Sea Ice almost almost set some records and averaged the 2nd or 3rd most ice at this time of year ever over the last week. Almost a record is definitive proof of the end of days … isn’t it?
sunshine hours 