“Freedom’s Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose.” (Kris Kristofferson)

In April, Arctic ice extent is declining as usual with the notable exception of Bering Sea, along with ice retreating in nearby Okhotsk.  Bering still has some ice to lose, but at 178k km2 it is only 31% of the ice there January 27, the largest Bering extent this year.  It is unusual since the Bering ice is only 25% of the 12 year average for this date.  Nearby Chukchi Sea is hardly showing any open water, down only 10k km2 from its maximum.  Open water is also gaining in Okhotsk, the other Pacific basin, but ice extent there is still 6% above the 12-year average.

Elsewhere things are mostly typical with Russian and Canadian basins still frozen with high extents.  The other two places losing ice are Barents and Baffin Bay/Gulf of St. Lawrence shown below.
On the right side is Barents losing ice along the Russian coastline, while holding onto Svalbard.  On the left, water in Baffin Bay is pushing north along the western Greenland coast.  On the extreme left is open water taking over in Gulf of St. Lawrence

The graph below shows how the Arctic extent has faired since the March maximum compared to the 12 year average with and without the Pacific basins of Bering and Okhotsk.  The green line is the 12yr. average without B&O, while 2019 appears in purple when Bering and Okhotsk are excluded.
As of day 105, 2019 ice extent is 858k km2 below the 12yr. average, a gap of 6%.  529k km2 of that difference comes from the combined losses in Bering and Okhotsk.

The graph below shows March/April 2019 compared to average and some years of interest.

All years are tracking below the 12-year average.  2019 MASIE and SII are the same and well below 2018, largely due to Pacific ice losses. 2007 is only slightly higher than 2019 at this point.  The table below shows ice extents by regions comparing 2019 with 12-year average (2007 to 2018 inclusive) and 2007.

Region	2019105	Day 105  Average	2019-Ave.	2007105	2019-2007
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	13443363	14301788	-858425	13588722	-145359
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1070498	1069781	717	1068692	1806
(2) Chukchi_Sea	955995	965240	-9245	961638	-5643
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1087137	1086417	721	1078666	8471
(4) Laptev_Sea	897845	893203	4642	843501	54344
(5) Kara_Sea	932750	922684	10066	890594	42156
(6) Barents_Sea	586518	611095	-24577	439904	146614
(7) Greenland_Sea	601126	652308	-51182	673585	-72458
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	1133317	1349987	-216669	1215526	-82208
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	853337	852527	810	848812	4526
(10) Hudson_Bay	1238689	1252970	-14281	1208588	30101
(11) Central_Arctic	3241460	3236044	5416	3235648	5811
(12) Bering_Sea	177335	714883	-537548	600281	-422946
(13) Baltic_Sea	16987	48771	-31784	23534	-6547
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	648664	640205	8459	491121	157543

Of course both of these basins will melt out long before the September minimum, along with the Russian shelf seas.

As indicated earlier, Bering supplies almost 2/3 of the deficit to average, with Baffin Bay providing most of the other 1/3. Of course both of these basins will melt out long before the September minimum, along with the Russian shelf seas.