Recent posts on Arctic ice talked about an ice dance and seesaws in both Atlantic and Pacific basins.  But the fluctuations are over, and ice is forming fast.

In just six days Arctic ice extent grew 455k km2, now tied with 2016.  Ice extent in 2006 has fallen 490k behind at this date, and will go lower by month end.  Sea Ice Index from NASA@NSIDC also shows ice increasing, but still lags behind by ~400k km2.

Here are images of the great leap upward in the last week, from day 44 to day 50 (Feb. 19, 2017)

Ice growing in the Atlantic seas:

 

Ice growing in the Pacific seas, and showing 2006 day 050 as a reference.

The table below shows this year compared to the 11-year average and to 2006.

Region	2017050	Day 050 Average	2017-Ave.	2006050	2017-2006
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	14743198	14851871	-108673	14251849	491349
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1070445	1070111	334	1069711	734
(2) Chukchi_Sea	966006	964552	1454	954122	11884
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1087137	1087038	99	1086081	1056
(4) Laptev_Sea	897845	897835	10	897773	71
(5) Kara_Sea	928805	918103	10702	902175	26631
(6) Barents_Sea	508018	600373	-92355	488506	19512
(7) Greenland_Sea	606503	635799	-29296	572979	33525
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	1517595	1446871	70725	1286797	230799
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	853214	852984	230	852715	499
(10) Hudson_Bay	1260903	1260391	512	1257433	3470
(11) Central_Arctic	3238980	3214106	24874	3207097	31882
(12) Bering_Sea	717887	771682	-53796	649938	67949
(13) Baltic_Sea	52798	114323	-61525	93848	-41050
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	957006	954616	2390	852621	104386
(15) Yellow_Sea	15475	22222	-6747	13586	1889
(16) Cook_Inlet	9671	11778	-2107	9530	141

The only deficit to 2006 is in the Baltic, while major surpluses are in Baffin, Bering and Okhotsk.  2017 is slightly below average in Barents, Bering and the Baltic, partly offset by being above average in Baffin and Central Arctic.