Sea Ice Decline 1979-2012 – Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly
Polar Science Center: Monthly averaged ice volume for September 2012 was 3,400 km3 This value is 72% lower than the mean over this period, 80% lower than the maximum in 1979, and 2.0 standard deviations below the 1979-2011 trend. September ice volume was about 800 km3 less than the prior minimum on September 10 2011 though this difference is within the estimated uncertainty of PIOMAS.
Sea Ice Volume is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS, Zhang and Rothrock, 2003) developed at APL/PSC.