The extent of arctic sea ice is much below normal for this time of year and recent trends indicate the sea ice is disappearing at a much faster rate than expected. The images below are from the NCEP MMAB Sea Ice Analysis Page which show the observed arctic sea ice coverage as of October 23. The image below that is the normal arctic sea ice coverage for October also available from the NCEP MMAB site . The climatology of ice cover spans 1901 to 1990 for the northern hemisphere.

These two images when compared and contrasted through the animated image below reveal much below normal arctic sea ice coverage over the Arctic for this time of year. In fact the current Arctic sea ice cover is less now than it normally is during the height of summer.

A comparison was done between the extent of arctic sea ice currently observed and the extent of ice cover for the same time last year. Current observations indicate the ice coverage is lagging behind from what was observed last year.

Finally a graph at the bottom shows the arctic sea ice loss trends between observations from 1979-2007 and IPCC model forecasts. The current trend during the past few years is sharply downward at an accelerated rate compared to computer model forecasts indicating the arctic sea ice loss rate is progressing at a more rapid pace. For more information on the loss of arctic sea and projected forecasts see this link to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. .