Inspired by the late Johnny Rook's Climaticide Chronicles, this is an occasional series on the state of Arctic sea ice.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) issued its January 2011 report on mean Arctic sea ice on 2 February, earlier than usual. The reason they may have released a bit early might have something to do with the ease of remote sensing of ice in winter, as there are no melt pools to account for in estimating sea ice extent. Or it might have been the nature of the news.
Before moving ahead, here's the obligatory Arctic sea ice webcam picture from Barrow AK from earlier today.
