Quote:
Originally Posted by Slawomir
Antarctic sea ice coverage is half of what it was this time of year in 2014...what climate change?
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The sea ice extent varies considerably throughout the year by a ratio of 5 or 6 to 1 (Maximum (in Winter) to Minimum (in Summer)).
Leaving that aside ....
As for year on year variation
at the same time of year, well of course that varies too. During a time of year like now, Summer, where the sea ice is at a minimum you will see the greatest year on year change in percentage terms, because the sea ice extent is a much smaller number in Summer compared with Winter. That's not to say that the difference you mentioned between 2014 and now (2017) isn't significant, just that you'd really need to put that in to context with the prior data to know with more certainty.
Best
JA