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No, Arctic Sea Ice Has Not Recovered, Scientists Say | Climate Central
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Arctic sea ice extent has reached its seasonal minimum, dropping to the sixth-lowest level in the 35-year satellite record. This years melt represents a significant gain in sea ice extent from last year when the ice cover plummeted to a record low but scientists cautioned that long-term trends are what is most important, with most projections still showing a seasonally ice free Arctic Ocean by the middle of the century, if not sooner. In addition, measurements of sea ice volume are at near-record low levels, indicating that the ice cover is unusually thin and vulnerable....
For much of the 2013 melt season, low pressure dominated the Central Arctic Ocean and Greenland, leading to cloudier and cooler conditions compared to previous years that had greater declines in sea ice. Average air temperatures were below average over most of the central Arctic Ocean and Greenland this summer, a dramatic contrast to the much warmer-than-average conditions that prevailed during the six previous years.
The summers of 2007 to 2012 were dominated by a weather pattern that helped transport warm air into the Arctic, with a high pressure area over the Beaufort Sea and Greenland, and low pressure over Eurasia, the NSIDC reported.
However, even with the cooler conditions this summer, sea ice extent still dropped into the top 10 lowest on record.
. . . We still ended up as sixthh lowest, so it reflects that even with a weather pattern that is not favorable for ice loss, you still have low ice conditions certainly no rebound to conditions in the 1980s/1990s, Stroeve said. I suppose if we now had several summers in a row like this one, we could temporarily rebuild the icepack.
Interactive map at link.