For what it is worth DMI shows a distinct drop in ice extent for the last two days. http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover.uk.php

Hi Jeff thanks for the link of Jim Swift's. Really interesting stuf. Kris, they may not have thought of it as a scoop. Although rare, sightings of Seal and Bears are not unknown. His comment about the ease of getting there through first year ice is still a worry though. "Stirling (1990:65–66) reports that “Polar bears or their tracks have been reported, albeit infrequently, by various explorers almost as far north as the pole,….[but] This is uncommon.” "Todd and others (1992) list bird and seal species sighted at the North Pole by themselves and others, but no polar bear sightings are known at or near 90˚N. Their list includes animals at the Pole and very near it—snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) (May 1987), northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) (August 1991, July 1992), blacklegged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) (July 1992), ringed seal (July 1992), and small fish (5–8 cm), the latter swept up onto the surface as the ship crashed through the ice. http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic56-3-309.pdf

Hi John Christensen, regarding your comment "Regarding the remaining slush of the MYI arm: It is still there." I do note that the naval research labratory site show this present still for their Beaufort sea depiction http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/beauforticennowcast.gif But mostly just as very thin ice http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/beaufortictnnowcast.gif

Wipneus thanks very much for the explanation (and the link to the earlier one on the forum). Reading the DMI site I had thought others were masking coastal ice and, as DMI were not, that explained the difference. But their 'old' masked extent data gives lower totals than other data sets. maybe 3.5 million km2 today. So I wondered about this. Thanks for clarifying that other data sets also don't mask coastal Ice.

Thanks Kris, Not exactly 'rhetorical' and DMI state on their site: "The total sea ice extent can differ slightly from other sea ice extent estimates. Possible differences between this sea ice extent estimate and others are most likely caused by differences in algorithms and definitions" Which is pretty clear I guess. But I have wondered if there was a definate reason. And if a community interested in Arctic Ice like this might be more aware of it. Anyway (unfortunately) it does not change the downward trend that all these data sets are showing in ice extent over the last 30 years. http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover_30y.uk.php regards

Interestingly The old DMI gives an ice extent level about the same as 2008 and 2011 levels. So the respective datasets all give a low level of extent, around 4th or 5th lowest relative to their own past data. http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/old_icecover.uk.php

DMI show just short of 6 million km2. Lower than the last two years but quite a bit better than 2011. http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/plots/icecover/icecover_current_new.png NSIDC put it at about 4.5 million km2 http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_stddev_timeseries.png ADS actualy show 4.37 million km2 https://ads.nipr.ac.jp/vishop/vishop-extent.html?N Near their 2007 and 2011 minimum extents. Norsex somwhere between 5 and 6 Million km2 (Befor their error starts to show.)So hard to tell where it is. http://web.nersc.no/WebData/arctic-roos.org/observation/ssmi_ice_ext.png Air temp above 80 N have been pretty cold in August and September. http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php Is there a known reason for such a difference between DMI Extent and the others?

Hi all, I have been lurking for a few years reading the blog. Isn't DMI already showing Arctic Ice Volume down to 2011 levels and already lower than the 'Rebound years'? http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icethickness/thk.uk.php Though as you point out PIOMAS shows 2015 at a higher volume? (Though extent and area are both down compared to the last two years). http://psc.apl.washington.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/schweiger/ice_volume/BPIOMASIceVolumeAnomalyCurrentV2.1.png Will look forward to your analysis when you post it. regards