Newly-recovered 1969 Arctic satellite data shows ice-free hole 200-300 miles wide – ‘We found holes in ice at North Pole that we didn’t expect to find”
Even in years with higher volume’s of sea ice, the satellite spotted ice-free areas near the North Pole that were 200 to 300 miles across. “We found holes in ice at North Pole that we didn’t expect to find,” he said. “We basically opened a window into the past."
According to the recovered data, 1964 was largest sea ice year in the Antarctic, until 2014, that is. Yet just two years later, sea ice declined by 20%, to the smallest extent on record there. “There was wild variability going on."