In January, most of the Arctic ocean basins are frozen over, and so the growth of ice extent slows down.  According to MASIE January on average adds 1.2M km2, and this month it was 1.1M. However, 2024 started above average and quickly grew to 14M km2 (14 Wadhams), before slowing down and ending January slightly above the 18 year average.   The few basins that can grow ice this time of year tend to fluctuate and alternate waxing and waning, which appears as a see saw pattern in these images.

On the left is the Pacific seesaw with Bering below and Okhotsk above.  This year Okotsk added ice steadily, and slowed at the end, while Bering waffled up and down mid month before gaining ice at the end. The Atlantic seesaw is Barents top center and Baffin on the right below Greenland.  Barents grew ice steadily until mid January, then gave almost all of it back by the end. Baffin added ice slowly all month, then accelerated the last two weeks.

While the seesaws are tilting back and forth on the margins, the bulk of the Arctic is frozen solid. And with limited places where more extent can be added, the pace of overall growth has slowed. Note that at 14.4M km2 Arctic ice extent now has about six weeks to break the 15M km2 annual ceiling mid March.

The graph shows the 18-year average gain for January is 1.2M km2.  2024 started with 275k km2 surplus ice extent and ended slightly above average, while and other recent years were lower.  SII showed lower extents most of the month  with a 253k km2 deficit to MASIE at the end.

Region	2024031	Day 31	2024-Ave.	2018031	2024-2018
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	14396470	14360118	36352	13792271	604199
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1070983	1070351	632	1070445	538
(2) Chukchi_Sea	966006	965973	34	965971	35
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1087137	1087059	78	1087120	18
(4) Laptev_Sea	897845	897823	22	897845	0
(5) Kara_Sea	894933	918701	-23769	895363	-430
(6) Barents_Sea	473076	569199	-96123	481947	-8872
(7) Greenland_Sea	711708	607586	104122	501411	210297
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	1272213	1331684	-59471	1406903	-134690
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	854860	853430	1430	853109	1752
(10) Hudson_Bay	1260903	1260770	133	1260838	66
(11) Central_Arctic	3214505	3210272	4233	3184817	29688
(12) Bering_Sea	665225	647841	17384	382207	283018
(13) Baltic_Sea	71817	62350	9467	41714	30103
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	910937	818756	92181	704398	206539

The table shows regional ice extents in km2.  The few deficits are in Baffin Bay and Barents, offset by sizeable surpluses in Greenland and Okhotsk seas.  Everywhere else is close to maximum for the year.

The polar bears have a Valentine Day’s wish for Arctic Ice.

And Arctic Ice loves them back, returning every year so the bears can roam and hunt for seals.

Footnote:

Seesaw accurately describes Arctic ice in another sense:  The ice we see now is not the same ice we saw previously.  It is better to think of the Arctic as an ice blender than as an ice cap, explained in the post The Great Arctic Ice Exchange.