The arctic ice extents are now reported through end of May 2026, and as noted previously the wavy polar vortex has hampered ice formation with incusions of warmer southern air into the Arctic circle.  This factor receded in May, and extents have closed the gap with the averages somewhat. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) goes through the Russian shelf seas of Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi seas on the way to Bering Strait in Beaufort Sea.

As the image from yesterday shows, despite some melting on the margins, the Arctic Ocean core is solid, expecially along the Eurasian NSR seen on the left vertical side.

The chart below shows the 20-year May averages for Arctic ice extents, along with 2026, 2025 and 2006 as well as SII v.4.

Remarkably the deficit to average opened up on May 5 (day 125) to 739k km2, but since then the gap was cut to 1/3, reaching 250k km2 on day 145, before ending 439k at month end .  SII tracked close to MASIE, but ended May 150k higher and matching 2006.

The table below shows the distibution of ice extents on day 151 across regions of the Arctic ocean.

Region	2026151	Day 151 Ave.	2026-Ave.	2006151	2026-2006
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	11297960	11734791	-436830	11425616	-127655
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1015077	1013073	2004	1063879	-48801
(2) Chukchi_Sea	880665	876472	4192	907609	-26945
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1038006	1066371	-28365	1073889	-35883
(4) Laptev_Sea	838754	826149	12605	856108	-17354
(5) Kara_Sea	873688	826976	46712	848172	25516
(6) Barents_Sea	141624	314200	-172576	180906	-39281
(7) Greenland_Sea	516827	588635	-71808	522040	-5213
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	692121	902041	-209920	721606	-29485
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	830939	814415	16524	800561	30378
(10) Hudson_Bay	1139854	1080088	59765	989550	150304
(11) Central_Arctic	3197949	3220706	-22757	3188696	9253
(12) Bering_Sea	84979	113623	-28645	179378	-94399
(13) Baltic_Sea	0	5749	-5749	720	-720
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	46029	172136	-126107	89739	-43710

The table shows that most regions are close to or above the 20-year average.  The majority of the 4% overall deficit is from Baffin Bay, Barents, Okhotsk and Greenland seas.  All of those regions will be nearly ice-free end of summer.

 

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 ice and snow extents.