The animation shows  Arctic ice melting season picking up first half of April 2024.  Typically, the Pacific side goes to water first, this year Okhotsk (top left) is ahead of schedule.  Also Baffin Bay (bottom right) is opening up early. Elsewhere Arctic drift ice remains, and Barents Sea ice (top center) is well above average for mid April.

The graph below shows mid-March to mid-April daily ice extents for 2024 compared to 18 year averages, and some years of note.

 

The black line shows on average Arctic ice extents decline from a maximum near 14.9M km2 on day 76 down to ~14.1M Km2 by day 105. Exceptionally 2024 started with 15.1M km2 and exceeded the 18-year average throughout.  SII was somewhat lower than MASIE in most of April until ending nearly the same. Both 2021 melted faster than average, while 2006 ice started and ended much in deficit.

Why is this important?  All the claims of global climate emergency depend on dangerously higher temperatures, lower sea ice, and rising sea levels.  The lack of additional warming prior to 2023 El Nino is documented in a post UAH February 2024: SH Saves Global Warming.

The lack of acceleration in sea levels along coastlines has been discussed also.  See USCS Warnings of Coastal Flooding

Also, a longer term perspective is informative:

The table below shows the distribution of Sea Ice on day 105 across the Arctic Regions, on average, this year and 2006.

Region	2024105	Day 105 Ave	2024-Ave.	2006105	2024-2006
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	14244041	14119733	124309	13589226	654815
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1070983	1069820	1163	1068683	2301
(2) Chukchi_Sea	966006	964681	1325	965591	415
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1087137	1085571	1567	1083591	3546
(4) Laptev_Sea	897845	893528	4316	896528	1317
(5) Kara_Sea	935023	922957	12066	912379	22645
(6) Barents_Sea	856908	608844	248064	495112	361796
(7) Greenland_Sea	802111	653203	148908	599062	203049
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	1179443	1279861	-100418	1042266	137178
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	854860	852951	1909	851056	3804
(10) Hudson_Bay	1231701	1247129	-15428	1235951	-4250
(11) Central_Arctic	3247180	3233303	13877	3168930	78250
(12) Bering_Sea	639179	647219	-8040	667951	-28772
(13) Baltic_Sea	31107	44493	-13386	84568	-53461
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	442660	610735	-168075	507143	-64483

The overall surplus to average is 124k km2, (1%).  The only major deficits are in Baffin Bay and in Sea of Okhotsk, the latter going to open water quite early.  Those are more than offset by surpluses everywhere, especially in Barents and Greenland seas.  In fact, Barents is 120% of  its 2023 maximum.

Illustration by Eleanor Lutz shows Earth’s seasonal climate changes. If played in full screen, the four corners present views from top, bottom and sides. It is a visual representation of scientific datasets measuring Arctic ice extents.

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