In the last nine days, sea ice in Barents persists, remaining above 700k km2, well above the decadal average and the previously high 2014.  The melting is confined mostly to Bering Sea on the Pacific side, and less so in Okhotsk next door.

The April pattern of ice extent decline is shown in graph below:

2018 is tracking close to 2007 and 2017, all more than 400k km2 below the 11 year average (2007 through 2017 inclusive).  SII is showing ~200k km2 less ice throughout.  The graph below shows 2018 ice extent is close to the decadal average, except for Bering and Okhotsk Seas, the two Pacific basins.

The table below shows regional  ice extents on day 113 comparing to decadal averages and 2017.

Region	2018113	Day 113  Average	2018-Ave.	2017113	2018-2017
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	13515699	14083321	-567621	13651810	-136111
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1070445	1069106	1339	1070445	0
(2) Chukchi_Sea	954262	965239	-10977	961723	-7461
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1086737	1086195	542	1083967	2770
(4) Laptev_Sea	897845	894453	3392	897326	518
(5) Kara_Sea	934867	916778	18090	932153	2715
(6) Barents_Sea	724756	572825	151931	546422	178334
(7) Greenland_Sea	516420	670606	-154186	673722	-157302
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	1239506	1338185	-98679	1444616	-205110
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	853109	850093	3015	853214	-106
(10) Hudson_Bay	1244858	1252135	-7277	1258453	-13595
(11) Central_Arctic	3208617	3242368	-33751	3245713	-37096
(12) Bering_Sea	88256	689111	-600856	374254	-285998
(13) Baltic_Sea	44869	32599	12270	23289	21579
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	648464	499591	148873	283164	365300

Overall, the 2018 deficit to average is 4%,  or 570 k km2. The difference is entirely due to open water in Bering Sea, now a deficit of 600k km2 (down by 90%).  Barents and Okhotsk are both above average, by ~30% with Greenland Sea down about 20%.  It remains to be seen how fast or slow will be the melting of the Arctic core regions, solidly frozen at this point in the year.

 

Boris Vilkitsky, the 172,000 m3 Arc7 ice-class LNG carrier, violated a number of safety rules on a ballast voyage to Yamal LNG terminal in the Russian High Arctic port of Sabetta earlier in April.

An Arc4 rating effectively prohibits the ship from operating independently or even with an icebreaker escort in the waters of the Kara Sea when ice conditions are medium to heavy. Roshydromet, Russia’s Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, has reported recently that first-year ice in the region is up to 2 metres thick.

Image from 4 days ago, source LNGworldshipping.