The arctic ice extents are now reported through Mid-June 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 June, and extents have mostly closed the gap with the averages. 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, and a bit of open water in East Siberian sea, the Arctic Ocean core is solid, expecially along the Eurasian NSR seen on the left vertical side.

The chart below shows the 20-year Mid-June averages for Arctic ice extents, along with 2026, 2025 and 2007 as well as SII v.4.

 

The deficit to average was as large as 440k km2 (day 156) to 739k km2, but since then the gap was halved  142k km2, before ending this period at 201k, or a deficit of 1.8%.  SII tracked close to MASIE throughout.

The table below shows the distibution of ice extents on day 165 across regions of the Arctic ocean.

Region	2026165	Dday 165 Ave.	2026-Ave.	2025165	2026-2025
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	10696425	10897539	-201114	10567590	128835
(1) Beaufort_Sea	1042387	977664	64724	1069789	-27402
(2) Chukchi_Sea	879186	811784	67402	884719	-5533
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	1040050	1051599	-11549	1050151	-10101
(4) Laptev_Sea	845784	768965	76819	714429	131355
(5) Kara_Sea	788382	716558	71824	589168	199214
(6) Barents_Sea	68324	203502	-135178	111023	-42699
(7) Greenland_Sea	473392	582910	-109518	548170	-74778
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	595439	727315	-131876	683063	-87624
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	837498	797884	39614	825305	12193
(10) Hudson_Bay	957932	967494	-9562	881108	76824
(11) Central_Arctic	3126593	3216681	-90088	3165365	-38772
(12) Bering_Sea	17089	38344	-21255	19646	-2557
(13) Baltic_Sea	0	5	-5	0	0
(14) Sea_of_Okhotsk	23112	35439	-12327	24010	-898

The table shows that most Eurasian regions are in surplus to the 20-year averages, with a small deficit in East Siberian sea..  The majority of the 2% overall deficit is from Baffin Bay, Barents, and Greenland seas, while Bering, Okhotsk and Baltic seas are as usual mostly open water at this time of year. All of these 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.