The animation shows Arctic ice extents on day 248 in 2007 (matching 14 year average), then the same day in 2019, 2020, and yesterday in 2021.  Note that Hudson Bay upper left is open water, and below that Baffin Bay next to Greenland is also ice-free.  In the center Canadian Archipelago holds a lot of ice, especially this year.  Also unusual in 2021 is ice covering Svalbard lower right all the way to Europe mainland.  Also upper right 2021 shows ice in Chukchi touching Russian coastline.

The graph above shows mid-August to mid-Sept daily ice extents for 2021 compared to 14 year averages, and some years of note.  During the 17 days from August 18 to yesterday, the black  line shows Arctic Ice extent declined on average by 1M km2 (1 Wadham).  Meanwhile the cyan line shows MASIE 2021 ice extents lost only 171k km2, and Sea Ice Index (SII) in orange lost 317k km2. Note on day 230 all three lines started at the same value.

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 is documented in a post Adios, 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 across the Arctic Regions, on average, this year and 2007.

Region	2021248	Day 248 Average	2021-Ave.	2007248	2021-2020
(0) Northern_Hemisphere	5464375	4672631	791744	4751076	713299
(1) Beaufort_Sea	798213	522472	275741	665051	133162
(2) Chukchi_Sea	524060	202259	321800	116358	407702
(3) East_Siberian_Sea	408523	310662	97862	6329	402195
(4) Laptev_Sea	51574	143286	-91712	280600	-229026
(5) Kara_Sea	122087	30192	91896	103072	19015
(6) Barents_Sea	18	15631	-15612	10766	-10748
(7) Greenland_Sea	98270	176374	-78104	334524	-236254
(8) Baffin_Bay_Gulf_of_St._Lawrence	16983	23131	-6148	31787	-14804
(9) Canadian_Archipelago	440366	288302	152064	270755	169612
(10) Hudson_Bay	39285	15338	23947	29961	9324
(11) Central_Arctic	2963852	2944150	19702	2900617	63235

The overall surplus to average is 792k km2, (+17%).  Note large surpluses of ice in BCE (Beaufort, Chukchi and East Siberian seas).  Meanwhile Laptev on the Russian coast melted out early, as has Greenland Sea.  Kara and CAA (Canadian Arctic Archipelago) are holding considerable ice.  We are about 12 days away from the annual minimum mid September, but at this point it appears that extents will be much greater than the last two years.

See also Abundant August Arctic Ice with 2021 Minimum Outlook

 

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.