Arctic Ice Retreating 30 Years Ahead of Projections

The study, "Arctic Sea Ice Decline: Faster Than Forecast?" will appear Tuesday in the online edition of "Geophysical Research Letters." It was led by Julienne Stroeve of the National Snow and Ice Data Center and funded by the National Science Foundation and by NASA.

September marks the yearly minimum of sea ice in the Arctic. Newly available data sets, blending early aircraft and ship reports with more recent satellite measurements that are considered more reliable than the earlier records, show that the September ice actually declined at a rate of about 7.8 % per decade during the 1953-2006 period. The fastest rate of September retreat in any individual model was 5.4 % per decade.