Two Records in Arctic Melt This Summer

There is perhaps a bit too much media hype about July 2019 being the warmest month on record. If you go to the source — the European Copernicus Climate Service article,  the official statement is that “July 2019 was on a par with, and possibly marginally higher than, that of July 2016”.  This is important to note because NASA and NOAA have yet to provide their own summaries for July, and because of uncertainties in the surface temperature record and varying techniques for measuring global temperature among groups, it’s possible July 2016 will remain the record based on other scientific agencies. However, it’s still been a hot summer overall, with June 2019 very clearly the hottest June ever.

This warmth has been felt in the Arctic, as well. Surface melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet has been particularly high this summer, and it recently experienced its highest daily melt area ever recorded, based on data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Over 60% of the ice sheet was melting at the surface. In the world of sea ice, it is unlikely that we break the all-time record from 2012 for the annual daily minimum sea ice extent, as that coincided with the strongest storm ever recorded in the Arctic (which helped break up and melt the ice pack).  However, there has never been less sea ice in the Arctic Ocean in July than in 2019.