https://rclutz.com/2023/11/02/october-2023-arctic-ice-grows-by-leaps/
The animation shows the rapid growth of Arctic ice extent during October 2023, from day 274 to day 304, yesterday. For all of the fuss over the September minimum, litte is said about Arctic ice growing 4M km2, that’s 4 Wadhams in one month!. Look on the left (Russian side) at the complete closing of the Northern Sea Route for shipping.
The graph below show 2023 compared to the 17 year average (2006 to 2022 inclusive), to SII (Sea Ice Index) and some notable years.
This year October added 3.95M km2 from end of September compared to an average October increase of 3.45M km2. As of yesterday NH ice extent is 368k km2 above average and nearly 600k km2 greater than 2007.
The table below shows the distribution of ice in the Arctic Ocean basins.
| Region | 2023304 | Ave. Day 304 | 2023-Ave. | 2007304 | 2023-2007 |
| (0) Northern_Hemisphere | 8768573 | 8422636 | 345938 | 8175072 | 593501 |
| (1) Beaufort_Sea | 780946 | 957189 | -176243 | 1038126 | -257180 |
| (2) Chukchi_Sea | 535578 | 454974 | 80604 | 242685 | 292894 |
| (3) East_Siberian_Sea | 1078989 | 936944 | 142045 | 835071 | 243917 |
| (4) Laptev_Sea | 897845 | 842696 | 55149 | 887789 | 10055 |
| (5) Kara_Sea | 655623 | 473780 | 181843 | 311960 | 343664 |
| (6) Barents_Sea | 121748 | 83466 | 38282 | 52823 | 68925 |
| (7) Greenland_Sea | 528448 | 412774 | 115675 | 443559 | 84890 |
| (8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence | 243512 | 256243 | -12731 | 289374 | -45861 |
| (9) Canadian_Archipelago | 629955 | 762429 | -132474 | 817220 | -187265 |
| (10) Hudson_Bay | 82242 | 69487 | 12754 | 48845 | 33396 |
| (11) Central_Arctic | 3207724 | 3161034 | 46690 | 3206345 | 1379 |
Overall ice extent has 346k km2 above average or 4%. Sizeable deficits are in Beaufort Sea and Canadian Archipelago, more than offset by surpluses in Chukchi, East Siberian, Kara and Greenland seas.
